To Bewitch the Mind
by water demon
Summary: COMPLETED! She was going to be late for breakfast again if she didn’t hurry up, she knew what had made her late. Her dream. He had kept her there. She could never refuse Him if he wanted her to stay. Never.
1. Default Chapter

To Bewitch the Mind  
  
The dreams  
  
Hermione stepped out of the Gryffindor common room. She was going to be late for breakfast again if she didn't hurry up, she knew what had made her late. Her dream. He had kept her there. She could never refuse Him if he wanted her to stay. Never. It had all started when she had come back to Hogwarts. She was in her final year and Hermione hoped it would be a peaceful year. But that's when it had started, her first night back. The dream wasn't bad but it wasn't very good either, it left her with a content feeling when she woke up. It was just eyes first of all. The pair of eyes never had any colour, but she never really puzzled about that. The dream made her forget all her troubles when she woke up. But now it was worse, much, much worse from eyes there came a face, from a face there came a body and she never knew who the person was. All Hermione ever saw was a shadow of a person even though he was solid and would often hold her hand.  
  
Then he started speaking and Hermione's heart melted, his voice was lovely and he seemed to know every thing about her, how to please her and if she refused to stay with Him He would know how to make her stay longer, and it was now 4 months since it had all started.  
  
She was hurrying to breakfast late once again, Harry and Ron had started worrying about her timing was getting later and later, Hermione managed to make it just before everyone started their breakfast. She suddenly noticed that Malfoy was just as late as her. She wondered about this, but not for long as Ron and Harry started bombarding her with questions.  
  
"What took you so long?"  
  
"We were so worried about you"  
  
"Why are you always late lately?"  
  
"Can't you be anywhere on time?"  
  
Hermione finally stopped this when she raised her hand for them to stop, then she answered, "I slept in a bit, that's all" Hermione said this so calmly that they were stunned. Ron was about to say something else when Harry elbowed him in the ribs, but Ron carried on any way.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" He asked  
  
"Nothing! I aid I'm fine" Hermione snapped back. She then took a piece of toast and stalked out the great hall. A pair of eyes watched her leave.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Later that night Hermione lay down to go to sleep. She was sort of afraid to go to sleep, so she stayed awake as long as she could, He was coming more needy lately. Now her feelings had changed towards Him, He was making her hate Him. Then she tried to think who it could be, but she couldn't remember, his voice was oddly familiar, but she still didn't know who it was. Why, she thought was this happening to her? Finally with her eyelids getting heavy and her mind floating around, Hermione fell asleep . . .  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Why are you so late darling?" His voice was soft and sweet like honey with a touch of anger.  
  
Here we go Hermione thought to herself. Why did she have the dreams?  
  
"Why are you late?"  
  
"Erm it took me awhile to er drift off" Hermione answered lamely, talking to her feet. Blushing heavily she suddenly realized she was wearing her extremely short nightdress. He was now beside her, he then lifted her chin sharply.  
  
"Always look at me when you talk to me" He growled  
  
"Ok" Hermione replied quite afraid and shocked. HE started circling her, she hated it when he done that. It always felt as if he was studying her, or undressing her with eyes (Which wasn't very hard).  
  
"Lets talk about something else for awhile shall we? How about what's going on with your best friends. Ron's looking at you weirdly. You know that you're mine"  
  
"What!?" She shouted " I'm not yours, I'm . . . never . . . yours . . ." With the last few words Hermione went dizzy and fell right into his arms. He lifted her up and whispered.  
  
"You'll always be mine"  
  
Funny Hermione thought as she held onto the thin thread of consciousness, how she always got dizzy and fell when I say things like that. Hermione then blacked out. 


	2. What's going on?

To Bewitch the mind  
  
What's going on?  
  
Hermione woke up groggily, it was a very strange dream this time. Why did she always faint when in her dream she said things He didn't like. Oh well she could figure that out when she finished her classes. That's when Hermione slowly opened her eyes, strange she thought, she didn't recognize the ceiling, it was supposed to look like stones, but this ceiling was white! Hermione slowly looked around at her surroundings, she was in the hospital wing! She screamed out of shock.  
  
Hurrying from the next room was none other than Albus Dumbledore closely pursued by Ron and Harry.  
  
"Glad to see you awake Miss Granger" Dumbledore said relieved, Hermione could see that Ron and Harry looked worried.  
  
"Why?!" Hermione asked puzzled. She saw Harry and Ron hitch up their eyebrows.  
  
"Well it is now . . . let me see about one o clock Miss Granger" Dumbledore said softly but this outraged Hermione.  
  
"One o clock! One o clock! Why didn't anyone wake me up?" She screamed  
  
"Because no one could" Ron answered. This shut Hermione up. Hold on she thought 'no one' could wake her up?  
  
"Wh - w- what do you mean?" She stammered. They were all lokking at her now as if she might pass out or something.  
  
"Well you were found still in your bed at the end of your second class, it seems that you looked, em now how did they put it?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully "Oh yes 'as pale as death'."  
  
At this Hermione gasped, what was going on she thought, as pale as death why that phrase?  
  
"Then . . ." Dumbledore continued "Your housemates it seems shook you, even screamed at you, but still you slept on, we even tried a few charms to make you wake up. But it seems you didn't want to."  
  
All through this Hermione had been gaping at Dumbledore, and opening and closing her mouth like a gaping fish.  
  
"We all thought you were . . . er . . . in a coma or something" Harry said unsteadily.  
  
Hermione thoughts went back to when Ron said no one could wake her up. I bet He could of, He would be able to. Then again Hermione fell unconscious.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Here she was again in her tiny nightdress and He was there like always, waiting as though He was always there.  
  
"How did you like your beauty sleep?" He asked innocently  
  
"I would prefer to have the same sleeping pattern as everyone else" She replied coldly.  
  
"But you look gorgeous now, you are the only person who I look twice at, you look like an angel."  
  
With these words Hermione couldn't stay mad at Him, He came forward and wrapped has arms around her body and tilted her face upwards, he came down for the kiss. It was bliss for Hermione her senses were reeling and she was enjoying every moment of it. She was then very disappointed when it had to stop. Hermione then swayed and fell but his hands didn't stop her and she fell into a peaceful sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Yet again Hermione woke up in the hospital wing, this time Harry and Ron were already beside her bed.  
  
"Hi, Hermione gonna stay awake this time" Ron joked  
  
"Nice to see you too Ron. What are you wo doing here during classes?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well you see during potions both Malfoy and Dean fainted. So we brought 'em up here." Harry explained.  
  
"Well why did they gaint?" Hermione asked impatiently, she was sure that if she was standing up she would be tapping her foot.  
  
"We were making a fainting potion and Malfoy and Dean were working together for some strange reason, anyway there cauldron exploded, and they got hit with the potion, how" Harry sniggered "unfortunate for Malfoy" Harry Ron burst out into fits of laughter and earned an icy glare from Madam Pomfrey.  
  
"Why? What's so funny?" Hermione asked again. This time she was tapping her foot with and annoyed look on her face. Ron and Harry took one look at her face and went deadly serious again.  
  
"Erm well Malfoy got scolded by the potion" At this point Hermione's eyes went wide so Ron added quickly " But Dean is alright just sleeping." Hermione relaxed because she had had a secret crush on Dean for ages.  
  
"Out she needs rest" Madam Pomfrey screeched. So Hermione was left alone while night crept over Hogwarts.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Soon I will kill him" A voice spoke out to the darkness. As a shadow swept over Hermi0one's sleeping form.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed encase you don't know this is my fist fic. So what do ya think so far. Anyway please read and review. Thanks luv Water Demon. Mwah xxx. 


	3. To dream or not to dream

To bewitch the mind  
  
To dream or not to dream  
  
Next day when Hermione woke up she felt refreshed, and for once he wasn't in her dream! It was strange, it was the first proper sleep she had had since that first night. It felt good to have a peaceful sleep. Why wasn't he there though, but she didn't really care! She was allowed out of the hospital wing finally, and she felt so happy that she skipped all the way to Gryffindor tower. She basically sang the password to the fat lady (lemon drops). Hermione bounded into the common room. Her happiness deflated like a balloon, everyone turned to look at her their expressions morbid.  
  
Harry was first to recover, he ran over to Hermione and quickly dragged her into the side room he quickly closed the door. Once he turned around he too wore the same morbid expression.  
  
"What!?" Hermione asked, but Harry continued to stare at her ass if someone had just died, she noticed that the fire was lit.  
  
"What?" she asked again. This time she got a reaction.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Hermione" Harry began "Dean is in a coma, no one knows why, and he just won't wake up. But for some reason Pomfrey knows that like you he won't suddenly wake" Harry stared at her worriedly, and hastily added "I'm sorry" Before he ran out of the room closing the door behind him.  
  
Hermione stood there dazed and confused. The person she had a crush on for ages was in a coma! Then without warning she broke in tears and wishing that she could go back to her dream world. Without noticing until she was shouting Hermione was screaming "Take me back! Take me back! Take me back! TAKE ME BACK!" With the last roof raising scream Hermione collapsed to the floor. All the people out side the door in the common room heard the word back and assuming she was sad about Dean so they thought that she wanted him back and did not come in but left her by herself. Inside the side room where Hermione was on the floor the window slowly creaked open but not loud enough for anyone to hear, the fire slowly died out and the temperature dropped, like the weather outside the snow started to drift into the window all over Hermione.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"You wanted to come back?" The soft voice spoke. Hermione who was trying to hold back the tears spoke in a hushed whisper.  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Why?" He asked suddenly suspicious.  
  
"You are the only one I can talk to even though you make me mad at you" Hermione confessed.  
  
Hermione looked aver at him. He was looking at her intently with thoughtful expression on his face, after a minute he spoke.  
  
"To dream or not to dream" Hermione glanced at him quickly and said "This is no time for Shakespeare . . . hold on how do you know about Shakespeare if you are a wizard?"  
  
"I know lots of thing, plus you like Shakespeare so I read some of his works for you even if he is dull"  
  
"Fine state another phase" Hermione challenged.  
  
"Fine I will" He thought for a moment "If music be the food of love play on. There was that good enough for you?"  
  
Hermione smiled. Lots of little thoughts were going round Hermione's head. Hermione liked Shakespeare and he had learnt it for her. That was so romantic. His voice broke into her thoughts.  
  
"So back to the main question do you want to dream or not?" HE walked over to her so that they were close but not touching, so she stepped up to him and her tears that she had been hiding spilt down before she could stop them. He hugged her tight and whispered soothingly into her hair. He suddenly went rigid and pulled away from her sharply and looked over her, she shivered.  
  
"Hermione where are you?" He asked her still looking at her intently.  
  
"I'm here duh. I'm looking right at you" She replied giggling.  
  
"No the physical you, come on this is important" He rushed.  
  
"Why does me being here got to do with me out there? I don't want to go back." She asked and told him.  
  
"Because" He grabbed her hand "Your freezing" He put her hand up to his face and she suddenly felt the warmth coming from him. She then started to shake uncontrollably, teeth chattering she said.  
  
"I'm in the side room in Gryffindor common room, there is a fire lit in there it can't be because of that" She looked anxiously at him and carried on "No one will come in because they think I am crying over Dean"  
  
"Right" He confirmed. "Bloody Baron!" He shouted. Sure enough 20 seconds later he came materializing through the dark surroundings. He flouted next to him. "Go to someone take them to the side room of the Gryffindor common room, go quick! Tell no one how you knew"  
  
The Bloody Baron nodded and went and disappeared. Hermione's breathing was becoming slower and she was shuddering more violently. He turned around and caught her before she fell and cradled her head in his arms.  
  
"No! Hermione, don't go now! Wait the Bloody Baron will get someone stay here!" He whispered urgently. Hermione smiled.  
  
"Tell me your name I don't know it" Hermione asked then added "Please"  
  
"Ok, it's . . ." But Hermione eyes dropped and her body went limp. She was neither sleeping, dreaming nor waking.  
  
"My name is . . ." faded with her mind.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A/N: Ha thought I would be evil to you! Hope you like the chappie, don't worry there is more coming up but in a different chapter. What will happen to Hermione? Who is the mystery man? Well I know the answers to these questions but you don't so if you wanna find out. Thanks for all you reviews I feel so happy getting 9 reviews in 2 chapters. Will up date soon. 


	4. Why me?

To bewitch the mind  
  
Why Me?  
  
It was dark and peaceful Hermione thought, just floating around in the dark, but she would miss them Harry, Ron and Him. Hermione distantly heard someone call her name, over and over again and someone shaking her. She saw a faint light just ahead of her she would try to go back for them. Suddenly it felt like her lungs were on fire, burning, it was just too much pain. But then she remembered that if she had lungs then she would be able to breath, slowly she took a deep shuddering breath, then another. Hermione didn't want to open her eyes so instead she cried out to whoever was there.  
  
She heard a cry of joy but she still couldn't open her eyes everything was just too bright. She then began to shake violently; it felt like she was having a seizure of some sort. But at once there were hands to steady her and get her through it. Slowly it passed and slowly Hermione opened her eyes. Standing around her were her best friends Harry and Ron and of course Madam Pomfrey also once again Dumbledore. They all wore a look of happiness on their face but Ron had a worried and anxious look.  
  
"Wh . . . What . . . happened?" Hermione asked. She looked around and saw that she was still in Gryffindor side room. The closed and the fire was lit.  
  
"We don't know, we just found you lying here, with the window wide open and the snow drifting through and the fire was out." Harry explained.  
  
"Oh" Hermione said quietly.  
  
"Why did you do it Hermione?" Ron asked. Hermione snapped out of her trance.  
  
"Do what?" She replied puzzled.  
  
"Try to kill yourself" Ron answered quietly. Everyone was now staring at her.  
  
"I . . . I would never do that" Hermione shouted outraged that they would think that "I was in here crying with the window CLOSED and the fire LIT, I went dizzy and collapsed" Hermione felt bad about lying just that little bit but they couldn't find out about him they just couldn't. "How could you think that?" Hermione looked up at Harry and Ron "You've known me for seven years, I would never . . . how could you." Hermione choked out before she ran out of the room tears falling silently down her cheeks.  
  
"Hermione wait!" Harry called out, but to late the damage was done. Dumbledore was staring at Ron thoughtfully then at Harry then last of all the window. "Bye professor" Harry said and Ron echoing his words they both walked out the room. Madam Pomfrey then excused herself and she too left. Finally Dumbledore was left on his own.  
  
He looked at the window and after a second or two he walked over and started to examine it. He couldn't say why but he felt that there was more to the incident than it seemed and he also knew straight away that Hermione was lying. But why though? After a while Dumbledore found what he was looking for, the latch for the window was broken and by the looks of it by a wand. He slowly left the room with an unease settling upon him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione lay there just thinking about the days events. What happened? Why did they suspect her of trying to commit suicide? She knew one thing; things were not going her way.  
  
"Why me?" she spoke aloud to the darkness. She felt the familiar wave of sleepiness as she was brought to him. "Why me?" Hermione murmured again before going to sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*Meanwhile else where ~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I won't do it!" He screeched "I won't! I love her too much to do that. MY heart was almost ripped out because of what happened to her today!"  
  
"But she doesn't love you, she is infatuated by that . . . that Dean person" A harsh voice spoke "If she won't stop loving him what can we do? It's for her own good"  
  
A trembling figure lay huddled on the ground, another person shrouded in shadow was sat on a chair before him. "It was a pity that he got caught with the potion when Dean was hit, but he wasn't hurt badly and Dean is now in a coma, make sure that it is permanent or that he dies. She can't love him"  
  
The trembling figure rose off the ground, it looked like that meeting was held in the dungeons, he mumbled a couple of 'yes masters' and left the room. The figure on the chair muttered some words and vanished into thin air. Outside the room came a howl of pain.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A/N: I am so so sorry that my chapters have been really short but I am running out of inspiration so review and give me ideas about what I should do next. Will you ever find out who the mystery man is? Well I know and you will find out and if I can manage to write it right then there could be a twist. Thanks to all that reviewed. I recommend you go and check out brain washed and falling head over heels those are class stories. 


	5. Changes

To bewitch the mind  
  
A/N: I am so, so, so sorry that I haven't update sooner but oh well at least it is up now! Well this chapter is about Draco and this starts the same day that Hermione is late for breakfast. Just in case you get confused it is the same day as chapter one. So here is the chapter hope you enjoy!  
  
Changes  
  
Draco Malfoy woke with a start, what had woken him he did not know, but all of a sudden he felt wide awake. He took his silver watch off his bed side table, he was in the head boys' room, and he felt glad that he could have some peace and quiet, ever since his fifth year at Hogwarts Draco Malfoy had suddenly become quiet and different, he now never taunted or annoyed the dream team and he felt happier in solitude.  
  
First of all he thought that it was just his raging hormones, but he found that in his sixth and even this year he had no desire to taunt, mock and hex them. Now he was thinking of these thoughts just because he got woken up, he found that he hadn't looked at his watch yet, so he picked up his watch again and found that it was only three am. For some reason unknown to Draco and all of the schools occupants the head girl would be announced after the Christmas holidays. Oh, well he thought it would probably be smarty pants Granger. I mean would she actually be that bad, sure she was horrible to him, but he didn't think that she would be that bad. As the last thoughts drifted round his head Draco fell asleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Draco awoke still tired and not refreshed. He looked at his silver watch and with a yell realised that he was going to be late for breakfast. He quickly hopped out of bed, in nothing but boxers (A/N: drools) and darted into the shower. Ten minutes later he stormed out of his room fully dressed. He quick marched to the great hall for breakfast. He was fuming because he was never late for breakfast or anything for that matter. Just as he got there he noticed that Granger was late as well. He smirked to himself thinking goody Granger late? He silently chuckled to himself. Draco finally reached the Slytherin table and sat himself between Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
They didn't bother to greet him; they were just to busy eating. But Draco never minded because they didn't really like him, they just hung around him for the power. Draco had noticed that there was no bond between him, Crabbe and Goyle, he wished that there friendship was like Potters, Weasleys and Grangers, he silently sniggered to himself wondering how his 'friends' would react if he told them that.  
  
He saw professor Snape going down to the dungeons and suddenly remembered that he had an over due potions essay. With a quick grunt of good bye to his 'friends' he stood up was about to rush out of the dinner hall when he saw Granger ahead of him he stood and watched her leave after she had gone he quickly rushed out of the hall, just as passed the doors he remembered that someone else was watching Granger leave as well.  
  
Draco ran as fast as he could to catch up with the Snape and just caught him as he was going into the potions room.  
  
"Sir! Sir!" Draco called out of breath. The potions master turned around stiffly then relaxed when he saw who it was.  
  
"Ah. Mister Malfoy what can I do for you?" Snape asked not knowing what Draco wanted.  
  
"Erm . . . well sir here is my potions essay. Hang on I just have to find it" Draco replied while searching through his bag.  
  
"Oh" Snapes face turned slightly sour "This is so unlike you to have a late potions essay. Can I ask if anything is wrong Mister Malfoy?" Snape inquired.  
  
"Err . . . no sir everything is fine I'm just not sleeping well that is all" Draco lied. He knew what the problem was but he wasn't going to tell Snape.  
  
"Oh. I see well come to me if this becomes a bigger problem. Oh and I must say that you seem to be going through some changes." Snape said.  
  
"Huh? What changes do you mean sir?" Draco asked hoping that Snape of all people did not know what was going on and that he was lying.  
  
"Well your hair if possible seems to be going lighter and you are no longer wearing much hair gel. Even your personality has been changing." Snape answered ticking the things off on his fingers.  
  
Draco relieved replied "Oh well thanks sir, I have to go otherwise I will be late for History of magic. Bye sir"  
  
Draco then speed off before Snape could say anything else. When Draco had rounded the corner Snape turned around and walked into his classroom muttering "Strange boy, strange boy"  
  
When Draco had rounded the corner he stopped and stood with his back against the wall breathing deeply. Snape had been close to finding out the truth. Draco was shaking at the thought of him knowing, if anyone knew he was done for.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A/N: There you are I hope you liked it. I have some more stories for you to check out so here they are: Once my enemy, now my friend. I want to destroy something beautiful. That is it for this time and thank you every one who has updated I feel really loved *wipes tear from eye* thanks. 


	6. What a weird day!

TO bewitch the mind  
  
What a weird day  
  
After that brief encounter with Snape Draco had gone and went through the day like normal apart from he would Snap at Crabbe and Goyle but they didn't mind they just acted like normal. Draco skipped dinner entirely and went straight to his common room to brood on his conversation with Snape. He had really come close to why Draco had been changing and Draco didn't like it. What about if other people started to notice too? Was it that obvious?  
  
Anyway Draco started to yawn and realised that he had been brooding for an hour! Where had the time gone? So he went up and got into his four poster bed and lay down and had a peaceful sleep.  
  
Draco woke up early in the morning and decided to have a nice long shower so he got out of bed and got his green dressing gown and towel and walked casually into the bathroom. After about half an hour Draco came out sweet smelling and more refreshed. He quickly looked at his timetable for the day and found that he had potions after lunch and after history of magic. So he went gloomily through the day noticing that Granger was'nt at breakfast but Potter and Weasley were there. Then at lunch they all weren't there, he was very surprised at this because every one knew how much Potter and Weasley liked their food. Oh, well he thought he would see them in potions.  
  
Finally History of magic had finished and once everyone had woken up professor Binns dismissed them and Draco practically ran to potions because he wanted to make up for his late essay. So while he was leaning against the wall he saw all the students arriving and Potter and Weasley were there looking rather subdued. Snape then came out of his classroom and called everyone in. With Draco leading the class trooped in taking their usual seats. Snape than drawling lazy took the register.  
  
Snape then got to Grangers name and when she didn't answer he quickly looked up and sweeped his eyes across the room. When he say she was not there he smirked.  
  
"What Goody Granger late for class?" Snape sneered and allowed the Slytherins a hearty laugh before cutting it short. Of course this was to much for Ron all the Gryffindors knew about Hermiones present condition.  
  
"Actually Sir . . ." Ron bellowed, "Hermione is at the moment suspect to be in a coma, and at least do her the decency of not laughing at her because she can't go to class!"  
  
Ron sat down still fuming about their nerve to laugh like that. But meanwhile the class was silent (the Gryffindors because they were feeling sorry for Hermione and the Slytherins because even they knew that laughing at someone like that was something to be quite ashamed of) Snapes skin colour was slowly changing from its usual sour colour to a brilliant pink colour! HE truly was ashamed of himself for making that snide remark.  
  
After a couple of minutes of silence Snape finally started to continue the lesson as normal.  
  
"Today we will be making the 'fainting' potion and I will put you into partners, unfortunately for me the Head master hass said that I have to for todays lesson put you with peaople that you . . ." HE gave a quick gulp " . . . like" he finished.  
  
The Gryffindors all gave a hoot of joy but the Slytherins looked normal because they always worked with who they want to.  
  
"Oh and another thing" Snape said with disgust " Slytherins you have to partner with someone that you know very well"  
  
Again the Gryffindors hooted but this time with laughter while the Slytherins looked really gloomy. So with loads of noise everyone sat with who they wanted but on both sides of the class two people didn't have a partner. So both people who were totally disgusted had to work together. IT turned out that it was Malfoy and Dean. So they set to work not talking to each other but doing their own thing.  
  
Draco was looking at Dean in disgust. It was so unfair that he had to work with him but he had to unless he would probably disappoint Snape further. After about twenty minutes everything was still going all right. Draco looked into his cauldron and gave a quick gasp he stood there spell bound until Dean kicked him and told him to get moving but Dean then started to stare into the cauldron. Suddenly there was a big BOOM and Draco and Deans cauldron exploded and they both got blown backwards. Draco whacked his head on a nearby table and that was the last he saw.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Where was he? The last thing he remembered was that cauldron exploding. He looked around at his surroundings. He saw nothing and then realised he could no longer see himself. He furiously waved his hand in front of his face but he could see nothing, in his moment of fright he took a couple of steps backwards and walked into something.  
  
"Hello Draco" Draco quickly whipped around and found himself staring into a pair of cold grey eyes.  
  
"Father" Draco nodded acknowledging him.  
  
"Sorry about the whole not being able to see your body but you might not like what has been done to you. Also I needed to talk to you. What are you hiding for once I can't get into your mind and none of my useful servents seem to be able to collect this information. What is it what you hide?" He asked  
  
"Well father it is something which I do not wish to tell you and that is final I think that is disgusting the way that you have to force your son to tell you what he is hiding. What? No! Don't!" Draco started to run becase the moment that he had mentioned the word forced Lucius had got a sort of spark in his eye and Draco knew what he was thinking.  
  
"Stop! It will be worse for you if you run!" Lucius waited a minute "Fine if you won't come . . ." He muttered a few words under his breath. A loud yell was heard. "I'll show what you look like" Lucius ran in the direction of the yell and found his son. Looking shocked at his own appearance.  
  
"Now co-operate" Lucius reached into his pocket for the truth potion and with one swift movement had brought it to Draco's lips. Draco though struggled and Lucius performed the curictius curse (A/N: can't spell it) Draco was bent over with pain and faintly heard someone calling. He realised that he was in fact asleep and his father had made the mistake of performing a curse on him, and also that anyone who was around his sleeping form would see his body shaking. So Draco willed himself to wake up and amazingly he did.  
  
The first person he saw was madam Pomfrey. And she was looking over him in alarm.  
  
"Mr Malfoy what is that?" Madam Pomfrey asked pointing close to Dracos shoulder.  
  
A/M: I'm so sorry that I had to leave it there. But I have to think of the next part. This chapter is up for you Elven ice angel. I was going to do it later but there you go. 


	7. whispers

To bewitch the mind  
  
Whispers  
  
Draco turned his head to where Madam Pomfrey was pointing and on his shoulder was the most grotesque thing imaginable. He drew in a quick breath and found himself visibly shaking. He frowned this was not the way a Malfoy was supposed to act. What was going on? He was still staring at the mark on his left shoulder he found that it didn't look quite as grotesque as he thought it was in fact a picture of some sort now it was coming into clearer focus and with a hiss of realization he saw that it was a picture of a devil carrying an angel. Draco remembered seeing the picture somewhere, but for the life of him couldn't remember where. As he looked at it closely with Madam Pomfrey peering over his shoulder he saw why it had looked so grotesque: a nasty shade of green was just vanishing and he remembered that the whole picture had been covered with it. Now that the colour had gone Madam Pomfrey mow decided he was safe to touch.  
  
As soon as Madam Pomfrey touched the picture a harsh hissing noise was heard and she drew her finger away from the spot and saw that her finger had been burnt black. She stood staring at it for a couple of seconds as though not realizing it was there then her eyes grew wide and she collapsed on the floor. Draco lay there frozen and then found his voice and screamed at the top of his lungs.  
  
"Dumbledore! Professor Dumbledore here quick! H-" HE stopped and realized how foolish he had been. Dumbledore could not have heard him. So he sat up and decided to try and help her himself. But just as he had but both feet on the ground he felt a wave of dizziness come over him. He had indeed forgotten that he had only just been subjected to the cruciatus curse but he was determined to get up though when he put his weight on his legs they crumpled underneath him as though made of jelly. Still determined he tried again but failed. Just he was having another go the doors burst open and Dumbledore came marching into the wing. He took a quick look around and spotted Draco.  
  
"Well Mister Malfoy, I believe you called" Dumbledore said while striding over to where Draco was lying in a heap. With one brisk movement Dumbledore had him on his feet but again Draco could not stand so Dumbledore half dragged and half carried Draco onto his bed.  
  
"Sir? You . . . you heard me?" Draco asked in puzzlement.  
  
"Why yes. Of course I did. What seems to be the trouble?" He asked looking around.  
  
"It's Madam Pomfrey sir! She touched my mark and she just fainted she's on the other side of the bed look" Draco replied pointing on the other side of the bed.  
  
Dumbledore quickly walked around the bed and saw that Madam Pomfrey was lying though now she looked even worse, there was a sweat breaking out on her forehead and she seemed to have some kind of fever.  
  
"Poppy! Poppy can you here me?" Dumbledore asked. To Draco's disappointment she did not respond. He turned away from Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey and felt that somehow this was all his fault. He felt something stir inside him and wondered if it was sympathy. He shook himself mentally and turned steely like he used to be he could go around feeling sympathy for others! When he turned around again he found that Madam Pomfrey was on a hospital bed and that Dumbledore had gone. With a sigh Draco turned back again and almost yelled again for Dumbledore was sitting in a chair right next to his bed. After letting his heartbeat get back to normal he cast around for something to say.  
  
"Err . . . so how long have I been here?" He asked.  
  
"Well not long. Yesterday you were brought in here and so was Dean but that is another sad note . . . I am afraid that Dean is possibly in a coma" Dumbledore answered his long fingers pressed together. It took awhile for it to sink in and lots of confused thoughts raced round his head. Why was Dean in a coma and he wasn't? Draco did not know that at this very moment this bad news was being told to Hermione.  
  
"Oh" Was all he managed to say. "Sir why do I have this mark?"  
  
"What mark?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"The one that is on my shoulder. Look but don't touch it that is why Madam Pomfrey is like this, she touched my mark" With that Draco pulled his top down a bit and realized with a bit of embarrassment that he was wearing school p.j's. Dumbledore took his arm gently in his hands and began to examine the mark, he looked a little surprised but did not say anything. After what seemed like ages Dumbledore put Draco's arm back and then spoke.  
  
"I know what this mark means. Don't say anything yet" HE gave Draco a piercing look over his half mooned spectacles as Draco was about to speak "this is a very old and magical mark. I know there is a book about this in the library but what I can remember this mark changes the person it is on and also means that he will save a life not just anyone but someone who is considered an angel I do not know what that means" He again gave Draco a swift look and continued "it might mean who you consider to be an angel or an actual angel. Now this picture gives us a clue that the person is a female but other than that it could be anybody"  
  
"Sir will this come off?" Draco asked hopefully.  
  
"No I am afraid it will not" Dumbledore said sadly " I have to go now and ask Severus for a potion to cure Madam Pomfrey so in the meanwhile please try to sleep" So with one last look at Draco he swept out of the hospital wing.  
  
Draco was now again feeling very sleepy but was afraid of meeting his father again then he thought angrily why he didn't mention it to Dumbledore. He pummeled his pillow and thought how stupid he was. Dumbledore couldn't protect him from his on father. With Draco still restless about his father he fell into a fitful doze.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
He could here voices all around him and someone speaking to him thought eh voice was fading. He wanted to her what that person was saying but couldn't hear it any more. What had happened? Then he heard it again it was a female voice, bur=t what was the words? Then he heard some.  
  
" . . . I am crying over Dean." He recognized that voice. He heard orders being shouted out from what he realized to be his own mouth surprised he listened harder. Then he felt something in his arms and realized he had caught the girl. He was confused hadn't he had this dream before? He recognized her, but from where? She spoke again.  
  
"Tell me your name I don't know it. Please"  
  
He found himself responding but she vanished from his arms and he felt like he was falling. Strange! I know that I have had a dream similar to this before but he couldn't think, he couldn't remember! If only the falling sensation would stop.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco woke with a start he knew he had had a dream involving her but he couldn't remember, it was like trying to stop the wind, everything was going away. He suddenly realized that Madam Pomfrey was gone and he was on his own. Oh well he thought he was used to loneliness. His last thought was to check out the story of the mark in the book, maybe tomorrow I will be well then. And then he fell to sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: there you go the next chapter and I am so sorry it was not sooner but you know I just had to read the new Harry Potter book and I have now finished it. Hope you liked this chapter and Please, Please, Please, Please, Please review! Luv ya loads water demon. 


	8. The other half

To bewitch the mind  
  
A/N: now this is Hermione's point of view now and Draco's as well to separate their different thoughts and things there will be just a small black line like this: ---------- And when it is a different time change or a dream then it will be separated like this: ~*~*~*~*~*~* but longer. Ok that was so that you knew because I was getting confused myself so just to clear things up with you. Also Hermione and Draco will be starting the same day so everything is now even.  
  
The other half  
  
Hermione woke with a heavy gloom still upon her. Her dreams were not with him but full of death and decay and Ron's voice looming from the darkness screeching 'why did you do it Hermione? Try to kill yourself' Over and over again those words repeated themselves with Hermione screaming back 'I didn't! I didn't' over and over again as well. She was glad to wake although she knew she would have to face everybody. It was a Sunday and Hermione hadn't done any of her homework and knew she better do so soon. But at the moment she was to comfortable in her bad and to worried about seeing everyone to move. But she still had a nagging feeling at the back of her mind. She still didn't know who he was and she wanted to find out, he knew her name. With a quick jump she suddenly remembered that it was in fact a week till Christmas and that she didn't have to do here homework, but then there was another pang of guilt, she had got no-ones presents yet. But at least there was a Hogsmeade trip on Monday.  
  
Hermione then remembered that after Christmas the new head girl would be chosen and she hoped it was going to be her. She didn't see why not but thought that she might have a miserable time with Malfoy the head boy then depressed her thoughts at once.  
  
With much sighs Hermione dragged herself out of bed and into the shower where she stayed for about 10 minutes just letting the water wash over her as if ridding her of all the bad thoughts that she had been thinking of over the past two days. After another 5 minutes she finally remembered that she was supposed to be washing her hair and hurriedly done it. Hermione went back to her dormitory once she had finished and done a quick spell to dry her hair and then changed into a tank top and some jeans for the day.  
  
Hermione ran down to the common room and was surprised to find that no one was there, she felt a bit hurt that Harry and Ron was not there to see if she was ok now after her traumatic week. With another quick glance around the still deserted common room Hermione pushed open the portrait and with her head bowed walked down to the great hall.  
  
Hermione walked into the great hall and was still even more surprised to see that no one was in the great hall either. Now Hermione was a little scared. She quickly checked her watch to check that what the time was and to her surprise she saw it was 10:10. There was no one about, not even the teachers. Hermione let out a small whimper and found that it was strangely magnified and echoed back at her. A new sound met her ears and it was footsteps. Her heart leapt strangely and found that he noise was coming from the other side of the doors and with a sigh of relief she flung them open to reveal non other than . . . Malfoy!  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
--  
  
His head was sore and he was sure that was from his father so with a moan he opened his eyes and this time was not surprised to see himself in the hospital wing. He looked at his watch and he found that it was just before nine. He called for Madam Pomfrey and she came scuttling to him from another side of the room.  
  
"Well Mister Malfoy nice to see you awake! Do you know that you slept for over 14 hours! Well everything seems to be in order you can go after you have eaten your breakfast" Madam Pomfrey told him.  
  
"Well thank you Madam Pomfrey and are you feeling okay now? Draco asked with what almost sounded like concern in his voice.  
  
"Yes I am fine Mister Malfoy and would you please hurry up so I can get rid of you and clean you bed!" she said with a smile on her face.  
  
So Draco immediately followed her orders and ate his breakfast and got dressed into some clothes which he summoned down (black jeans and a black t-shirt) and hurried out of the hospital wing.  
  
After wandering around the passages Draco remembered that he had wanted to go to the library to check out his mark. HE headed in the direction of the library and after about a few minutes walk he walked through the doors and suddenly felt even quieter than before. He went and looked at a couple of books and found that he would probably be there all day. So with a bit of bravery told Madam Pince about the mark but of course leaving out the bit where it was on him. And after a couple of minutes searching Madam Pince found the book to an excited Draco and went back behind her desk. Draco then went to a table and started to read and if he wasn't so interested about the book then he would have noticed that even for a Sunday there was no one about but he was too absorbed.  
  
He read in the book: this mark that is of a devil carrying an angel is a symbolic picture and is in two parts the first part is of the devil carrying an angel which is usually put on the male. There is another half to the drawing which is put on the female and the drawing is of the devil and the angel embracing each other. The only way the mark appears is when someone begins to change. After that the other half of the mark will appear on the other person who is also changing but does not know it yet but you will not know who it is until you have saved that other persons life whether in the past, present or future. Then that person is known as your sole mate and also you will spend eternity together unless one person refuses the love of the other then the person whose love has been denied will forever be in limbo once they have died which will be on the first full moon after their love was declared. To stop this, the person who denied the other persons love has to (this bit here has a really big smudge over it and no one can read it. Tragic huh?) Then the lovers will be bound together. The male will be from Slytherin (another big smudge and no one can read it damn the person who done it :p) this is a prophesy that was made and will happen when a person from the past will . . .  
  
Here the page about the mark was torn off and could not explain anymore and Draco was still confused. He was going to save his sole mate, but who is it? With a horrible memory Draco remembered who it could be and shuddered at the thought. Pansy. He had saved her life once and she could not stop thanking and hanging onto him as though she was a devoted slave and was drooling over him for weeks. Why oh why did it have to be pansy that he saved? Couldn't it have been someone else? He didn't care who but Pansy? With another quick shudder Draco stowed the book under his robes and walked out of the library looking as guilt free as possible which wasn't very hard I mean he still had to be bad sometimes right?  
  
So Draco walked back to the Slytherin common room intending to ask Pansy weather or not she had a tattoo like a devil and an angel embracing. He thought he better tell it to her like that because she wouldn't understand if he said it any other way. So he got to the blank wall and said the password (cunning) and walked inside. The first thing he noticed was that no one was there even though they should have been it was a Sunday. Every one would usually be lounging around in there looking for excuses not to do there homework. But no one was here he to felt a little hurt that no one was here t greet him. He called and no one answered. He smirked to himself and thought that they could be pulling a surprise for him and crept up to his room to surprise them! But as soon as he opened the door there was no one there. A little down hearted he went to check Pansy's room and when he opened the door sure enough there was Pansy still asleep at . . . (Draco quickly checks his watch) 09:45! He crept up on her and prodded her hard in the ribs.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! RAPE! Rape! Ra -"Screamed Pansy until Draco covered her mouth with his hands. Then she was quiet.  
  
"Oh Draco! Why did you do that honey? You almost scared me to death!" Pansy asked him.  
  
"Oh well you know just having a joke! Err Pansy why is there no one else here? Where is every one?" Draco asked.  
  
"Well duh! I thought that you would know that! It is the first day of the holidays! Every one went outside to play in the mountains of snow that fell through the night! But I didn't go I didn't want to! I wanted to sleep and wait for you" Pansy said this in the air of someone who had just done all this bravely and expected a treat.  
  
"Oh well that's good then! Pansy you don't have any tattoos do you?" Draco asked then held his breath while waiting for an answer.  
  
"Well as a matter of fact I do! Do you wanna look? But without waiting for an answer Pansy started to pull up her trouser leg and on he ankle there was a tattoo. "Cute isn't it? I just love the way the Devil and the angel embrace! Draco? What's wrong love?"  
  
Draco had gone a kind of green colour and then with not so much of a backwards glance or good bye he sped out of her room out of the portrait hole and down the corridor.  
  
He decided that eh was hungry again and started to walk to the great hall. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was now 10:15 and found he was now even more hungry just looking at the time. So with his stomach growling he walked even faster to get to the great hall and found that he had started to run. He swept along the corridors as though he was being chased and with a sigh of relief he saw the great hall round the corner and then slowed down to a walk so that he wouldn't look to happy. As he reached out his hand to open the doors he jumped back in surprise as they had started to open themselves! As the door widened he made out a person standing on the other side so he walked in and found himself face to face with . . . Granger!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*(now for this bit it is held in both their point of views)~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Malfoy?"  
  
"Granger?"  
  
"What are you doing here?" They said together.  
  
"Getting breakfast" They coursed again.  
  
"What at this time!" They again spoke at the same time.  
  
A bit of a grin was spreading over Malfoys face and it seemed to annoy Hermione although she could see the funny side of it. Now that she was relieved to see some one she was now annoyed it was Malfoy of all people.  
  
"Malfoy where is everyone?" She asked him as nice as she could even though she detested him.  
  
"Well they are . . . don't you know Granger?" He asked sensing some fun was about to be had.  
  
"No I don't know tell me where they are!" Hermione replied keeping her voice as calm as she could but finding it hard as she also sensed that he was using it to his advantage.  
  
"Well . . . that Granger would be telling" He smiled evilly leaning in he whispered " and why should I tell you?"  
  
"Because Malfoy if you don't I will hex you! I will give you till three! Hermione replied coldly.  
  
"One . . ."  
  
"You wouldn't . . ."  
  
"Two . . ."  
  
"dare to do that . . .  
  
"Three . . .  
  
"you goody two shoes . . . mudblood!"  
  
"Densaugeo!"  
  
Malfoy then shut up because his teeth began to grow at an alarming rate and he then glared at her and tried to curse her back but couldn't pronounce his words properly, he then shot Hermione another icy glare as she was doubled up on the floor laughing so much that tears had come to her eyes, after a while Malfoy got her attention again and pointed to her then her wand then to himself. Hermione got the gist, however wanted a bit of fun first.  
  
"What's that Malfoy? I didn't hear you say please" Hermione smirked at him. He then wrote in the air with his wand rather annoyed that he would be doing it then wrote extremely fast . . . 'please'.  
  
"Ok then Malfoy since you asked nicely and then tell me where everyone is after wards other wise I will do it again" So Hermione muttered the counter curse and Malfoy was back to normal, before he was about to anything Hermione waved her wand threateningly so Malfoy chose his words carefully.  
  
"Fine everyone . . . is . . . out . . . side . . . in . . . the . . . snow " With every word he said he took a step back then said " . . . MUDBLOOD" As he shouted the word he ducked round the corner with his hunger forgotten racing back to the common room.  
  
Hermione however stood there stunned and did not even raise her wand when he said the horrible word, she felt tears of emotion well up inside of her and before she knew what she was doing she went to the room of requirement that she had used since fifth year and thought of a place where she could just be on her own and no body would find her and as the door knob appeared the first of the tears began to fall.  
  
A/N: well there you go the longest chapter yet I hope you like! Please, please ,please review and thanks for all of you who did review! Luv water demon xXx 


	9. Heart break

To bewitch the mind  
  
A/N: ok I warn you that this chapter is going to be a bit weird because if I had done it the way I was gonna then it would be one hell of a short story so I changed it but be warned again this will probably be a weird chapter and also the signs are the same as the last chapter!  
  
Prophesy dreams  
  
Hermione ran into the room and slammed the door behind her, and as she did so the door itself began to fade and then to disappear completely. Hermione though did not see this because she was blinded by her tears. In her wishes for the room of requirement she wanted a place where no one would hear her pain and some where she could relax.  
  
Looking around through her teary eyes she saw that the room consisted of a bed and a window with a view of the mountains just behind Hogwarts. This view she found relaxing and took deep calming breathes. After about four of these deep calming breathes she open her mouth and screamed all her pain out.  
  
Thirty seconds later Hermione finally stopped and felt so much better for getting all her frustration out. With one last dry sob she flung herself onto the bed for a rest and realized that she was still really hungry. The encounter with Malfoy drove her hunger away but now it was back with full measure and her stomach started to growl.  
  
"I wish that I could have something to eat . . . maybe chocolate?" Hermione asked aloud.  
  
Hermione jumped as right before her eyes appeared a house elf carrying a tray full of Honeydukes chocolate. The elf bowed low and then stood up. Hermione gave a squeal and gave the house elf a hug.  
  
"Oh! Dobby! It's nice to see you again! Why did you come here?" Hermione asked as she let go of the stunned elf.  
  
"Well Miss you see when someone is in here and asks for food the voice of the room who answers your wishes tells us what you want and who you are. Once I heard your name I offered at once to come and give you your food. But why miss have you been crying?" Dobby asked with concern. As he gazed at her with a serious face.  
  
"Nothing Dobby! It is fine I am just being silly! I just need some time to think! You can go back to the kitchens now Dobby! I'm fine really but thank you anyway" Hermione gave him another big hug and shooed him away. So Dobby gave her a toothy smile and vanished into thin air.  
  
With Dobby gone Hermione dropped her smile and began to feel seriously hurt from all the things that had happened that day. Malfoy had hurt her but she didn't know why. He had spent most of the school years calling her that name. But now it had hurt her more than ever. Was it because he hadn't called her that name in over a year or because of something deeper down. Because she knew now. Her parents couldn't hide it any longer and they had told her the truth. It made sense really because Hermione wasn't a very common name was it? Was it because of what they had told her that made Malfoy's words sting even more the fact that he couldn't recognize her for what she was? Hermione didn't know.  
  
But she knew that a big part of her pain came from Harry and Ron. They hadn't checked to see if she was alright. Didn't they care anymore? Then there was Dean as well. He was in coma! This just helped to build up her misery. And now she was really depressed. Just thinking about how Harry and Ron would rather go outside and muck around in the snow than see if she was alright brought tears to her eyes.  
  
With another howl of misery Hermione again lay back on the bed to sleep feeling the tears trickling down underneath her eyelids and on to her cheeks sliding down onto the bed. Hermione fell asleep to quickly for it to be natural after crying but then again the room did try to help to fill your needs and maybe the room helped her to sleep. But asleep she fell.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------  
  
Draco couldn't stop laughing all the way to his common room. The look on her face was priceless and for once in a long time he had enjoyed it. The taunting and the name calling had woken something up in him. The part that had enjoyed it. Draco was glad it was now back. As he reached the wall concealing the Slytherin common room Draco had a nasty idea (well for others anyway) he was going to find Potty, Weasel and the Mudblood and taunt them, mock them and try and curse them. The things that he hadn't done in a long while. He didn't why he wanted to do it but all he knew was that it felt good.  
  
So Draco ran quickly to his own room and grabbed his cloak and scarf and gloves an made his way outside chuckling evilly on the way.(A/N: sorry for the abrupt personality change but I felt that he should be more in character so more evil :D) After about five minutes walk he reached the front doors and pushed them wide open to find tons of snow and like Pansy said everyone in the entire school skating on the lake, having snow ball fights, making models in the snow and snow angels. With the word angels something stirred in Draco's memory. HE remembered the tattoo and Pansy and was brought back to earth with a sudden jolt.  
  
Which in fact was a snowball being thrown at him. He turned around and gave whoever it was his most bone chilling stare. The person who had thrown it was a stupid first year but when Draco stared at him he quickly gulped and scampered out of sight. Draco laughed his evil laugh again before setting out to find his groupies.  
  
Ten minutes walking later he found Crabbe and Goyle hanging a kid up by his feet and burying his head in the snow. With a quick Oi! From Draco they quickly walked over to him to see what he wanted. Draco motioned with his hand that they should come closer and they did. After a couple of minutes whispering they drew apart all wearing identical evil grins on their faces and laughing so hard they started to cry but the tears just froze in their eyes. A quick nod of agreement then they went there separate ways to form the plan. Each anticipating it as if Christmas had come early.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Half an hour later and they all met up again to finalize their plan. With another quick word they all set off together in search of their victims. But it was hard since everyone was covered in snow and they all looked alike. Draco cursed and his breath and found the easy solution: A location spell. He muttered a few words and then found a light to guide him to Pothead  
  
Finally they saw him and Ron and quickened their pace so the fun could start. When they were in hearing range Malfoy called loudly.  
  
"Hey! Scar head and Weasel!" His voice echoed around the grounds and all heads turned in his direction. Harry and Ron turned around and turned back with a look of deep disgust.  
  
"Oh, it's The Ferret" Harry said in a dull voice to Ron " and what would you be wanting Ferret Boy" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh it's something which I can do for you . . . where's the Mudblood? She should really be here to see this." Malfoy drawled with a bit of surprised mixed in.  
  
"Call her that again Malfoy and I will curse you into the next century. And I don't know where she is. I haven't seen her since . . . oh my God . . . Ron we didn't see if she was alright.!" Harry suddenly became anxious about finding their best friend.  
  
"Ooops! She is going to feel soooooo hurt we have to make it up to her. Especially after what I said" Ron said as they both began to speed off in the other direction. " All this snow drove it out of our minds, I feel so guilty!"  
  
As they left Draco standing there he began to follow just to see what all the fuss was about. It sounded to him as if they had had a huge fight and Granger had got hurt and Weasel had said something terrible and they didn't see her. Well she looked alright to him when he saw her in the morning. He sped up his pace as they disappeared from view through the doors.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
He had followed them right the way up to Gryffindor Tower and was waiting for them to come back out again with Granger. He stood their bored and longingly thinking of the mayhem he could of caused if he hadn't of mentioned her. Draco was then thinking of going back when the portrait door opened and out came Harry and Ron and . . . no Granger! Harry and Ron were talking together and Draco caught some of the words.  
  
"Where do you think she is?"  
  
"I don't know, but I'm worried because I fight with her a lot and you don't she will hate me more . . . I hope she hasn't done anything stupid!"  
  
"Don't worry Ron we just need a way to . . . the Marauders Map! Why didn't we think of this before?"  
  
"Brilliant lets get it quickly!"  
  
So they ran back into the tower after being let in by the unhappy Fat Lady. She had barely closed when they wee racing back out again panting slightly from the run.  
  
"O . . . K . . . Where's . . . Her . . . mione?" Ron asked through big breaths.  
  
"I have to open it first Ron!" Harry muttered some words Draco couldn't hear and touched the parchment with his wand. A look of concentration was on his face. Then suddenly . . . "Ha! I've found her but it's a room that shouldn't be there! Where is it?"  
  
"Lets have a look!" Ron stared intently at the parchment then a look of triumph came on his face. "Harry! She's in the room of Requirement! That's why the room looked strange and not supposed to be there. But why there?" Ron said as afterthought to himself. Harry began to move but Ron dragged him back. "No Harry! We need to plan what we have to say first! OK where shall we start"  
  
Draco didn't hear anymore as he crept away. He was going to surprise Granger. He knew where the room was as he had caught Harry coming from there in the 5th year. Once he was out of hearing range he started to sprint down the halls until he came to the corridor. He went in front of the wall and thought to himself I need to find Granger. I need to find Granger. He swept passed the wall two or three times before a handle appeared. With a quick burst of laughter at his own success he calmed down and quietly opened the door. As he opened it the full way he saw Granger asleep on the bed. And he had to stop he couldn't say why but that urge for solitude was back now stronger than ever as if it had been buried.  
  
He wanted it to come out and felt his heart pang as he crept further into the room. Not knowing why he turned around and shut the door as quietly as he as could and put a proper charm on the door so it couldn't be opened or found. He didn't know what he was feeling but he felt that he just wanted to stay there alone with her and just to watch over her. A chair appeared behind him and he sat down and watched.  
  
A/N: Ok I know that his mood changes are weird but you will find out in the end I promise but for the moment it might take awhile to get there. I will say this though: it's all very mysterious. I have decided that there will be 20-25 chapters so it will be pretty long but anyway thanks to all those who reviewed I feel loved and those people are: Elven ice angel: thanks I will take your advise and if I didn't say it before I Envy You but love your story!  
  
Pupulupk: thank you for reviewing most of my chapters! And by the way I love your story and you better update soon!  
  
hazel-leaf: Thank you for reviewing and I will try to update sooner! I am sorry o say this but I will be going on holiday soon for three weeks so I will only post one more chapter before I leave and I will not be able to review your wonderful stories. I will carry on thinking about new plots and things but again I an so sorry!!!!!!!!!! Luv water demon xXx 


	10. Nightmare

To bewitch the mind  
  
A/N: I have realized too late that the last chapter title had nothing to do with the chapter and I am so sorry about this! It will never happen again so . . . this chapter is called Nightmare and the other chapter is called Heartbreak! Also I have just remembered that Draco miraculously has his burns mended and I found that confusing. Madam Pomfrey fixed him when he was sleeping. So here is the next chapter and the first bit is Hermione dream while she is sleeping!  
  
Nightmare  
  
"What are you talking about?" She screamed "You can't be serious about that can you?"  
  
"I'm so sorry love but its true, believe me I would have told you early but you know how hard it is. Nothing seemed like a good time. Please don't be too mad"  
  
She had tears in her eyes and angrily turned away so the other woman wouldn't see her cry even though she had so often before. In an attempted to stop she screamed loudly to get her frustration out. After ten seconds she stopped and felt better but still had to say some more things.  
  
"So all those years I could have been saved from the torment could have been saved from being petrified but no! I went through all that, when I didn't have to? Why . . . why was I . . . you know?"  
  
"You were a mistake and they couldn't handle it I'm so sorry darling but I was there for you always and I will be long after this."  
  
"So . . . so I'm a . . . A Pureblood? Not a Mudblood?" She said in somewhat of a hopeful voice.  
  
"Yes that's right. Now you know will you in turn forgive me? I know it was the wrong time but these things happen and I still love you! Hermione my daughter"  
  
"Yes, ok I forgive you mum!" They embraced still crying. Everything faded away into blackness and something else started.  
  
She was in complete darkness with voices coming up at her from all sides and she was turning desperately round in circles to see who it was.  
  
"Mudblood! Filthy little Mudblood! Pureblood as if. You don't belong here go back muggle! Mudblood! Pureblood! Muggle!  
  
All these things were being said and Hermione couldn't see who was doing it, in desperation she put her hands over her head and shouted "Stop! Stop! Be quiet!" When this didn't work and the voices got louder she started to whimper with perspiration dripping down her forehead. A new voice joined the group.  
  
"Hermione! Hermione!" To Hermione it sounded as if someone was trying to wake her up and she felt glad as the nightmares slipped behind. But she felt too tired to wake up so went into a deep sleep not knowing who was there but no nightmares started and she slept peacefully.  
  
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Draco sat there just watching her. In her dreams though she started murmuring though he couldn't hear what she was saying so he lent forward and out of all the mumbling he made out some words but they seemed to be nothing just part of a dream. But he was still intrigued and stayed leaning forward waiting to see if she said anything else. She then did.  
  
"Saved of torment . . . petrified . . ." Draco sat there confused she could have been saved from what torment? Petrified? What did that mean? Draco started to listen again as more words came out.  
  
"Pureblood . . . not Mudblood" Draco sat up straight. What was she talking about? She wasn't a pureblood she was a Mudblood! But she seemed to think the other way in her dream.  
  
Hermione then began to sweat and shake as if she was having a nightmare and call out softly saying "Stop! Stop! Be quiet!" and move her hands in front of her face as if trying to swat something away. Draco was not sure what to do and sat there as still as stone. What would she say if she saw him there? Probably scream the castle down. Hermione in the meanwhile was still trying to get something away from her face and looking frightened so Draco called out softly to her.  
  
"Hermione! Hermione!" He gently shook and she fell quiet and carried on sleeping. With a sigh of relief Draco stood up and then wondered where Potty and Weasel were. Answering his thought a Marauders Map appeared and he saw that the room of requirement that he was in was not on the third floor but no where in the castle. Huh! He thought to himself maybe I do have hidden power to get the room to where no body would find them. He looked at the map and saw that Harry and Ron were heading for Dumbledore's office and with a panic thought new how strange it would be that the room of requirement had disappeared along with the people inside it.  
  
So he went to the door to open it and found that it wasn't there. "I want to go back now. Let me out!" When nothing had happened he kicked the wall where the door was supposed to be. Nothing happened except that he had a sore foot. He sat down in a huff and thought and wished that he could get out of the room. Still nothing happened so he screamed at the door to return and still nothing happened but. Draco spun around quickly just in time to see her stirring and thought quickly I need something to hide me. Sure enough an invisibility cloak appeared and hurriedly he put it on.  
  
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Hermione woke up thinking she heard someone yell. She thought she was being stupid but woke up anyway. She stretched and yawned and looked at her surroundings and remembered with a smile that she was alone and was happy about that. Because it was somewhere no one could find her or so she thought.  
  
She decided that she was calm enough now to leave but thought that she would like some chocolate before she left. She remembered that she hadn't eaten her chocolate before and looked around for it. She found that she had been lying on it and that it was all soft and gooey. She sighed took out her wand and tapped the chocolate and it returned back to its original state.  
  
About five minutes later when she had finished her chocolate she screwed up the wrapper and heard a sneeze! She screamed and fell off the bed. She heard laughter! That wasn't right. There was supposed to be no one there. Suspicion crept over Hermione and she held out her wand. Being really quiet she tried locate the noise and finally heard the soft breathing of someone trying not to be heard. Once she knew where the person was standing she raised her wand and shouted "Pertrificus Tot-" but was cut off as something hurled itself at her she fell back with a yell with the thing landing on top of her. As they landed on the ground the wind was knocked out of her but she managed to hit whoever it was. The person though managed to grab Hermione's hand and then the other one and hold them in one of his hands. Hermione struggled and struggled but could not reach her wand which was lying on the floor beside her.  
  
She was scared now because she was pinned down by someone she couldn't see and was defenseless. Hermione thought of the only thing left to do and that was to scream so she opened her mouth and started to scream but was cut off when a wad of cloth was stuffed in her mouth. With the sudden amount of cloth in her mouth she started to choke. The person on top of her realized that and pulled it out of her mouth. A bit to hard and Hermione was able to see who it was as the clock slipped off.  
  
"Malfoy? What the hell are you doing here? Get off me now or I will make you pay" She said angrily. To her surprise he laughed.  
  
"Well how would you do that I wonder?" He said in a mocking voice " Turn me to stone with your eyes? I think not, I on the other hand have my wand right here!" He showed his wand which he held in the other hand.  
  
"Malfoy get off or I will scream" She said.  
  
"Yeah and how will anyone hear you? You've put a silencing charm on the room. I forget just then but now I've remembered. Scream all you want but I will get annoyed very quickly if you do"  
  
Hermione gulped feeling quite scared. But Draco the feeling to be nasty was returning and he couldn't help it his smirk was back in place and he was ready to taunt again.  
  
"What's the matter Mudblood? Scared?" He laughed evilly.  
  
"Don't call me that Malfoy!" She screamed back at him.  
  
"Why does it hurt you feelings?" He asked still looking mean.  
  
"No because . . . because . . ."  
  
"Because you can't find a reason" he finished.  
  
"No because it's not true!  
  
They just stayed there as Hermione's last sentence hung in the air before them. Draco stunned from the new news relaxed his grip on her but that was a big mistake.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: I thought I would leave it there and this will be the last chapter for a couple of weeks three or four to be more exact! Please review! Luv water demon xXx 


	11. Fights

To bewitch the mind  
  
A/N: well people I am back finally and as soon as I came in I hugged my computer with joy since I hadn't been on a computer in over 3 weeks any way everyone please forgive me since I only managed to write one chapter in over 4 weeks *casts head down in shame*. I had the most evil writer's cramp it was horrible I had no inspiration but the chapter is written now so on with the chapter.  
  
Fights  
  
In Malfoys moment of surprise his grip slackened and Hermione with some quick wit Hermione managed to shove him off her. Since he was still stunned at what she said he toppled off quite easily and Hermione was on her feet with wand in hand quick as lightning. Malfoy sat motionless on the floor since his wand flew out of his hand and he was at the mercy of a very angry witch. Hermione slowly made her way over to Malfoy still with her wand pointing at him and calmly she spoke.  
  
"This Malfoy is for making me life hell for the past six years" Malfoy knew he couldn't dodge her spells sat there still not protecting himself.  
  
He did not expect however for her to chuck her wand away and start kicking, punching, slapping and scratching every part of him. So he was surprised yet again and didn't do anything. Until it started hurting him that is then with a cry he hurled her against the wall. Where on impact she slid down the wall and put her head on her knees with arms round her head and dissolved into tears.  
  
Draco was really quite shocked he had never seen her like this and it was kind of scary . . . kind of? Hell it was freaky and terrifying. He kept his distance not knowing what to do so he walked over to where a door now was and without a backward glance walked out closing the door with a slam behind him. Hermione was alone again.  
  
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Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? She wasn't that important. Plus he still hurt from all the wounds she gave him. It was two days since they were stuck together and he still couldn't stop thinking about her! He hadn't seen her at all since then even at meal times, Potty and Weasel seemed happy enough he didn't think she had told them. This was a relief for him since he couldn't be bothered to argue with them.  
  
Today was the Hogsmeade trip so he needed to go and get loads of Christmas presents which he had neglected to do. It was now the 21st of December. His mother would be hurt if he didn't send anything and his father would get mad. He didn't have much choice really.  
  
Twenty minutes later Draco was walking down to Hogsmeade on his own since Crabbe and Goyle had been giving a detention for beating up a second year in front of Dumbledore, therefore they were now cleaning every single class room in Hogwarts. That would take them the whole day by Dumbledore's reckoning. But his time Draco was just entering Hogsmeade and it was starting to snow again so he drew his cloak more tightly about him still trudging through the snow. HE slowly walked past all the well known stores and continued down a grubby ally way.  
  
Draco them pointed his wand at the wall and said in a low voice "P Une Po" The wall slid forward and to the left out of sight as Draco walked in unafraid of the darkness in front of him. He stopped looked around as if puzzled and then called in a loud voice "I have come" Lights sprang about all around him letting him see the dingy counter in the corner with the rusting till on top and the cabinets that lined the walls and finally a small balding man sitting in a chair.  
  
"Well, well Mister Malfoy it has been a long time since I have seen you in here! What will you be requiring today?" the bald man asked.  
  
"I would like please the most beautiful present for my mother you know her likes and something for my father Mr. Dron" Draco listed  
  
"Ah I see Christmas presents is it? Well I do have the most beautiful thing that your mother will adore. Just came in yesterday. A beautifully hand crafted silver necklace with a . . . a . . . a well there seems to have been a mistake with it. The stone in the middle of the heart was supposed to be an emerald the rarest one in the land but instead a ruby was set in the middle. Still beautiful I guarantee but still Mrs. Malfoy does not favor red as I believe." With this the man took a deep breath.  
  
Draco pondered for a moment thinking of this situation. Finally after a couple of moments he said slowly. "Let me see this necklace first. Then if I think it will be alright I will buy it but if not . . . I know that you will have something else in the store."  
  
Mr. Dron then gave a small bow and hurried into the room behind the counter. A couple of minutes later he came back with two slim boxes in his hand. HE put the fatter of the two on the counter and opened the smaller box for Draco to have a look at.  
  
Draco stared into the box. There lay the most beautiful necklace he had ever seen (and this was coming from a boy's opinion). In the box was a shiny silver necklace with a fantastic work of craft of a heart with wings. And set in the very centre of the heart was a sparkling stone of ruby which when caught the light cast red images over the walls. Draco was staring at it in awe. No way could he let that be sold to anyone else. But then Mr. Dron was right his mother hated red.  
  
"Let me see the other one" He commanded. Mr. Dron then undone the other box. Inside it was a silver necklace. It was the same as the other one except it looked less impressive. The silver seemed dulled and the emerald in the middle was not sparkly but looked dull like the silver. Well Draco thought, it seemed that he had no choice but to buy the slightly dull one. But he would buy the other one as well. He couldn't risk it going to someone else.  
  
Draco cleared his throat. "I will but both of them. You never know when it will come in handy. Oh! Don't forget to send my usual to father. And don't forget this time like last year that was awful."  
  
"Wise choice Mister Malfoy. Wise choice indeed. I won't forget this time. Wrapped? Yes I thought so. Here you are. I will deduct your money from your account. Don't worry about a thing sir. Good day to you and goodbye." Mr. Dron said as he handed over the now nicely neat packages and vanished into the room behind.  
  
Draco turned and walked out of the shop with the boxes in his hand. His fathers present would be sent to him on Christmas day. As he came out into the ally way the wall closed up behind him and could not be distinguished with the wall around it. He walked out of the ally way. Only to when he came out onto the street to bump into somebody.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione had somehow got back to her dormitory without anyone seeing her and managed to clean herself up. Ridding herself of her red eyes and making sure she looked presentable. With steadying breaths she made her way down the stairs and into the common room where she found Harry and Ron sitting on the sofa talking to one another.  
  
"Hi guys" She said. In and instant they got up and gave her a big hug and started apologising about how they were lame friends and they were stupid and how she could hex with any spell she wanted as long as she would forgive them. In the end she just laughed and gave them a hug and told that there was no need for them to be hexed because she would have done the same if she had known there was so much snow.  
  
"I'm just glad that you're here" She said. "I have some troubling news that I should have told you before but didn't. I'm sorry. This is a long story so be patient."  
  
In the next half an hour she had told them how she had found out that she was a pureblood and that she was in fact a mistake. She told them that her mother had not told her who her parents were. Harry and Ron sat there stunned at the news but like true friends were happy for her. After they had spoken a bit Hermione asked them not to tell anyone.  
  
They talked for hours and hours about where Hermione was and how suddenly she had vanished from the room of requirement and they couldn't find her. They had even started to go to Dumbledore. But when they were at the gargoyle that guarded his office they looked on the map again and saw that she was back at Gryffindor tower. (They had spent at least half an hour trying to figure out what to say to her) Until finally Hermione announced that even though they had missed dinner she was going to bed since she was so tired. They all said goodnight and went their separate ways.  
  
Hermione woke up in the morning feeling tired and irritated. She hadn't slept much that night. She slowly put on a t shirt and jeans for the day and slowly made her way into the common room. Just in time to see Harry and Ron make their way to the portrait.  
  
"Hey!" She called feeling a bit annoyed that they were now back to the way they were already!  
  
"Hi Hermione" Harry answered "We were just going down to breakfast. We waited ages for you but you took forever. It is almost 9:00 you know?"  
  
"Oh? Well I'm not hungry anyway so like just go down I'll see you later" Hermione said and shoved them towards the portrait.  
  
"Well ok see you later" They both called and waved as they went round the corner. Hermione went slowly up to the dorm and slept.  
  
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The next day and a bit passed the same Hermione didn't eat much apart from what she had in her room. The only thing that made her go out was the Hogsmeade trip. She needed to buy loads of stuff. She got ready dressing in a purple polo neck top and blue jeans. After breakfast had gone which she didn't attend, she made her way to the front doors. There were loads of students there and a long queue but it soon passed and Hermione was out in the open experiencing the joy of the Christmas season.  
  
Soon she was in Hogsmeade shopping on her own since she was buying Harry and Ron's things. She went into Honey dukes to get chocolate and sweets for her self. Then she was in the joke shop buying stuff for her best friends. To keep them happy for awhile. Then she went to a wizarding shop that sold everything. So she bought self house hold cleaning kit for her parents so they could have a break.  
  
With all her shopping done she started to head back to Hogwarts. Carrying all her nice parcels. As she passed an ally way someone came out and bumped into her.  
  
A/N: There you are it is now done! That took ages! Thanks everyone so much for your nice reviews. I am sorry if this chapter is a bit bad. Like I said above I had writers cramp. I will try to do better. Water demon 


	12. I'm a Malfoy!

To bewitch the mind  
  
I'm a Malfoy!  
  
"OH!" Hermione screamed as she went falling to the ground. Her neatly packed parcels flew out of her hands as she went to break her fall. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact. She was about a foot from the ground when someone grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back.  
  
As she was pulled back up to standing she stumbled backwards since she was trembling and fell into the arms of the person that had saved her. She fell limply and then passed out.  
  
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Draco was so scared what was he supposed to do? He had saved Granger from falling and saved her again when she fell backwards even though her scream pierced his ears he still had saved her! And his repayment was that she had fainted! Why did she do that it wasn't that frightening.  
  
People were now starting to look at him. He was still holding Granger up and her scream had added a lot of attention. With a little angered growl he picked Granger up and carried her in his arms. With one hand he bent down and picked up all her belongings. His presents were in his pockets so they weren't damaged in any way.  
  
He gave a quick glare to all that were watching him and gave them a look that plainly said 'if you say anything you'll get a beating' With another huff he set off towards Hogwarts with a look of disgust on his face.  
  
How could he be touching her? She was a mud - no she said she wasn't but was it true? It seemed true enough. But did he believe her? He didn't know what to believe. He trudged on wishing it had been anyone else but Granger. His feelings had obviously changed for her. I mean he would never have helped her out a couple of years ago. He probably would have kicked her and been on his way.  
  
They hadn't changed that much had they? I mean yeah she was ok, but that didn't mean he liked her a lot. His feelings had been different lately. They had changed rapidly from him wanting to cause trouble and him just wanting to sit down and try to be nice. What was that about? He was having an argument with himself to prove that he didn't like Granger. But since he was trying to prove that he didn't like her does that mean he does?  
  
Ahhh! The thoughts were confusing him. He didn't want to face the fact that he might possibly like Granger . . . or did he? No he couldn't think about it! He was saved from anymore confusing thoughts, since he had come to the front doors of Hogwarts and who should be coming out but his two least favorite people . . . Potter and Weasley!  
  
Out of all the people it had to be them. It was just like the situation with Granger. He just had to catch her didn't he! Now he was going to be in trouble about this. He was carrying the fainted form of their best friend. How would he react to that? No he would be the wrong person to ask. Potty and Weasel didn't have a very nice look on their faces as they slowly advanced towards him.  
  
Out of all the bad things that could of happened it had to be this. They were standing in front of him with worried and angry looks on their faces . It was quite funny really and he would of laughed if he hadn't been worried out being kicked in.  
  
"What are you doing with Hermione Malfoy?" Ron spat. He really did look mad. He was going red!  
  
"Carrying her. What does it look like I am doing?" He had to take pride in his sarcy comments.  
  
"Malfoy. We are in no mood. What are you doing with Hermione and I will ask you just once." Harry threatened.  
  
Malfoy thinking that this would probably be the good time to say what he was doing told him "Carrying her to the Hospital Wing. She fainted on me in Hogsmeade. I didn't do it if your thinking that I just thought that it would be right to take her back here"  
  
"Yeah right! You mean to say that you carried her back here from Hogsmeade! We know your lying now. It is to far to walk with her and all the parcels" Ron stated.  
  
"Actually she isn't that heavy. Here catch!" He threw her parcels to Ron who caught them looking stunned. Hermione was still asleep in his arms with her head resting on his shoulder.  
  
"See they're not that heavy are they?" He asked. Ron shook his head. Malfoy then done the most surprising thing "Here!" He said and threw Hermione for Harry to catch. Harry not expecting this jumped and started to panic. Malfoy had threw her quite high. But stayed in the same place watching Harry and grinning.  
  
Harry still didn't have enough time to run over and catch her, but he tried anyway. Hermione was coming back down to Earth and Harry was still a couple of feet away. When Hermione was level with Malfoys head. He yet again surprised them by catching her! Hermione still didn't wake up! She must be out cold not to wake up after that.  
  
"See?" He gloated "She's not that heavy" This time he threw her towards Harry and he caught her looking surprised. Ron was watching everything with an open mouth. Harry still looked stunned. Malfoy started walking towards the doors load free. He turned around for another look.  
  
"When Granger wakes tell her I can't be around to save her mudbl - blood neck all the time" He spun around to go in but Ron shouted.  
  
"Why do you have to be so nasty all the time?"  
  
Draco thought for a second "Because I'm a Malfoy!" Then he was gone.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione woke up to the sound of voices. She opened her eyes and saw Harry and Ron sitting on her bed talking. Hmmmm. She thought this is weird. Why do I always wake up here she thought. It was starting to creep her out. Harry and Ron turned around to see if she was ok and jumped when they saw her awake.  
  
"Hermione! Are you ok?" They asked at they same time.  
  
"Yes I'm fine. Apart from I have a headache" She said "and a cold which wasn't there before I went out" she added.  
  
"Yeah? We were talking to Madam Pomfrey and she seems to think that you are most likely to have had a sudden attack of flu. That's why you fainted." Harry explained with Ron nodding beside him.  
  
"Huh? Who would have thought that? So who brought me back? I know I bumped into Malfoy. But he wouldn't do anything. Come to think of it he probably set it off." Hermione went off into her own thoughts then gave a loud sneeze. "So who brought me back?"  
  
"Urm . . . well here's the thing is it kind of strange and weird so brace yourself" Harry started. Hermione nodded. " Malfoy brought you back" Harry said quickly.  
  
"I don't think I heard you. You didn't say Malfoy did you?" Harry nodded " Oh my God! You mean to say he carried me all the way back here?" Harry nodded again.  
  
"Yes that is strange" Ron said "But do you know what's stranger?" Ron asked. Hermione shook her head. "He didn't complain at all that he carried you back"  
  
Hermione sat amazed. That was so strange that Malfoy didn't complain about her. She would of thought he would about her being a - no she wasn't and he knew. She sneezed again and started to shiver. Her flu symptoms were starting.  
  
"Madam Pomfrey" she called " Can I have a potion to get rid of this flu now?" Madam Pomfrey came scuttling over carry a bottle of potion.  
  
"Of course dear. Once you have had it you can leave and don't forget to take your gifts." She said and left.  
  
Hermione took a few gulps of the potion and swallowed. The effects were instant. She wasn't ill anymore. With a quick nod of her head to Harry and Ron she got off the bed and collected her gifts and followed Ron and Harry out of the door.  
  
Finally when she was in her room in Gryffindor tower she flopped down onto the bed and took a look at her gifts. She had a huge bag of Honey dukes best sweets and chocolates. Harry and Ron's presents and of course her parents presents. She thought that she should post them now before it was to late.  
  
She took the parcels and put the address on it. Hermione then went into the common room which was deserted and out of the portrait. She then made her way towards the owlery to send her presents.  
  
As she got to the owlery she thought she heard voices but thought she was wrong. So she opened the door. . . no one was in there though which she thought was strange. Hermione walked in and went to fetch the nearest owl. It looked to small though so she went to the next one and it looked fine. She gave it a couple of pokes to wake it up and tied the parcels to it's leg, then she carried it over to the window and let it fly out of her arms into the evening sky.  
  
A hand went around her stomach and a round her mouth so she couldn't scream. She started to panic so she screamed as loud as she could (which was quite loud) then bit down hard. There was a sound of cursing while the hands withdrew and she spun around to see who her attacker was.  
  
"Malfoy?" Hermione cried in shock. What was he doing up here? "What the hell do you think you were doing?" She screamed.  
  
"Playing a prank" He replied shrugging "I didn't know it was you though Granger. Thought you were somebody else" He shrugged again.  
  
"Err . . . anyway . . . I err wanted to thank you for what you did today. I know you didn't have to" Hermione said.  
  
"Well you know" He said "didn't want Potty and the Weasel on my back about how I could have done something" He replied "and the thanks I get for saving you falling from the ground was you fainting and now a bleeding hand." He sighed.  
  
"Oh! Sorry about that" then Hermione giggled.  
  
"What? You think my injury is funny do you?" He asked while Hermione nodded her head still giggling. "what?!"  
  
"It's just that is the second injury I have given you in less than three says. Lets just say that's now my record" and she giggled again.  
  
He had to admit it would be funny from her point of view but not at his. She had almost caught him talking to his faithful eagle owl, which would make him look crazy. His owl was now on it's way home to his manor with the gifts. He still hadn't found a use for the necklace but he might later on.  
  
He looked up. Hermione was staring at him. "What?" he asked.  
  
"Well I was just thinking how nice you could be. Like just now for example. But you can be so mean. Why is that?" She asked.  
  
He thought then started making his way to the door. Just as he pulled it open he turned round and said " Because I'm a Malfoy" He closed the door and was gone.  
  
A/N: Ok what do you think of it? I NEED TO KNOW SHOULD THIS BE A HAPPY OR SAD ENDING? PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME! You should check out this really good story called: To love a Malfoy. It is wicked really good! Well that's all I have to say. Oh and thank you do all me fantastic reviewers you make my day ( ! Water demon. P.S: Please review *hint hint*! P.P.S: The computer at my house isn't working properly and on top of all that the internet is down as well, so that means that my chapters won't be up as quick as usual. I have to use my friends computer to upload my chapters, but don't worry the chapters shall keep coming. 


	13. You too?

Happy Days  
  
Finally they met again. Hermione and her dream lover. She fell asleep not hoping that he would be there, just wishing she could at least have a peaceful night. But as she was going to find out, most nights were never peaceful. Draco was thinking almost the same thing as he too drifted into slumber.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hello again stranger" Hermione joked smiling.  
  
"Hello yourself" He teased back.  
  
They drew together feeling they had spent years apart. They both whispered lovingly to each other, mostly about how they had missed each other. They just stood there embracing each other wishing to be no where else but right there in that space of time, knowing it would end when they woke up.  
  
The spell that lay on the silence that came when they had finished talking together, lay there delicately not wishing to be broken but just wanting the peace to last. But as with all good things they must end. Even the silence.  
  
"Hermione dear? Are you alright, you seem very quiet" He asked delicately wishing as if not wanting to be over heard.  
  
"Yes, I am fine . . . I was just thinking about how much I used to hate you. But now that I haven't been with you for about week . . . I . . . I think . . . I love you" Hermione confessed, just wishing he would think the same to.  
  
"Well . . ." He said slowly "what do you feel now and when you were not with me?" he asked.  
  
"I . . . just feel so loved at the moment, by the way you hold me and the way I feel, like I have a balloon filled inside me . . . and I don't want it to burst. When I was away from you it felt weird . . . like I felt really lonely, and I just wanted to be with you." She finished and stood thoughtfully until his next words brought her down to earth.  
  
"If you felt that way . . . and you told it truthfully then . . . that is how I feel so . . . I must love you to. With you I can be myself. No having to change to please other people. I fell so right here you know." He explained.  
  
"Do you really fell that way about me? If so I am so happy." They shared a passionate kiss before going to their original state of embrace.  
  
Hermione then began to shake as if some invisible person was pushing her. "Hey! What's going on? Why am I shaking? Why is everything disappearing?" Hermione screamed.  
  
"Don't worry someone is just waking you up. See what they want then come back!" He gave her a kiss. Then all went black.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione opened her eyes. Someone was standing over her. She looked up with frightened eyes until the person moved into the moonlight and she gave him a glare.  
  
"Harry! What the hell are you doing here? It's . . . " She fumbled with her alarm clock "2:30 in the morning. This had better be good!" She whispered fiercely.  
  
"I'm sorry Mione. I just had to see you. I just woke up and decided that I wanted to see you. Do you want to talk?" He asked hopefully.  
  
"No! I don't want to talk at 2:30 in the morning! You just interrupted a really good dream! No go back to your room before I hex you for a) waking me up from a good dream and b) for trying to keep me up! Now leave me to get some sleep other wise you won't get your presents in four days time. I will just give you coal."  
  
Hermione just turned over on her side leaving Harry to go out the room. How could he get in the room without waking up the other girls? It was a mystery to her. By the time she had turned over again Harry was gone. She sighed with relief that she could get back to sleep.  
  
But she couldn't though! It was 3:00 now and she still wasn't asleep! She wanted to go to sleep. She needed to talk to him again. She was facing the window and was getting sleepy. But she was uncomfortable and her favourite side to lie on was to face the door. With another sigh she turned over to face the door. She was going off into slumber when she opened her eyes for a sleepy look over the room she saw someone standing in the doorway.  
  
"OH! Harry if that's you again go away I'm trying to sleep and it is now 3:00! Go away." She whispered as loudly as she could.  
  
But it wasn't Harry who came forward it was Ron! "Mione? I couldn't sleep and I wanted to talk to you" He said.  
  
"What is it with you and Harry? You don't want to talk to me in school hours or even in the day time, but now that it is me trying to sleep you want to talk to me! Well no I don't want to talk to you. It can wait till morning when I am awake and not trying to sleep."  
  
This time she sat up and grabbed her wand off her night stand and muttered a few words. The door opened and Ron got propelled out the room by and invisible force, while whispering " Ok you don't have to be grouchy" When he was passed the threshold the door closed and magically locked so that no one apart from the girls could get passed the door.  
  
"How had both Harry and Ron managed to get up into her room when they couldn't get passed the stairs? They must have levitated up." She said sleepily.  
  
No sooner than she was on the verge of sleep when a crash of thunder made her jump out of her dozing state. Urgh! She thought. Someone must really not want her to sleep. Then there came lightning and more thunder. She could never sleep in thunder storms. Well there was only one option: she must read. With another sigh (Which she seemed to be doing a lot of) She propped her pillows up and lay against them. Taking out her book: Northern Lights. She lit her wand and then began to read.  
  
Several hours later she dozed off only to be woken up by her room mates moving around. Groaning she opened her eyes to see the last one of them going out of the door. She was alone in the room. She looked at her clock and saw that it was 9:00. She hadn't had much sleep and was still tired, she felt sad. She didn't see him again that night. So she went back to sleep hoping to see him again.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco awoke in the morning feeling as if he had been waiting for something. But it hadn't come. He was very confused because he couldn't remember what he waiting for. He had had the weirdest dream. He was standing around waiting for something to come, but it didn't. Like totally strange.  
  
He shouldn't let dreams bother him because he didn't really believe in fate or anything. He was a person who needs to see things to believe them. He had to have solid evidence to believe in it otherwise to him it wasn't true. The thing that was bothering though was the fact that he still had the necklace. He didn't what to do with it. He had stuffed it in his draw as soon as he came in to his room and in a way he couldn't get that necklace off his mind.  
  
He was just always at least once a day thinking of it and who he could give it to, but no name had come to his mind. He was still dwelling on the dream and the thought of waiting for something when he remembered that he had gone to bed thinking about how he hadn't received any post yet from his parents. Maybe that was what he was waiting for. Maybe that thought had slipped into his dreams somehow. It could be possible couldn't it?  
  
He slowly got out of bed and made his way towards the bathroom. There were three bathrooms (Draco lives in the Heads dormitory but still has a room in Slytherin Dormitory's). One was connected to the common room and the other two were in the head boy and girl rooms. A he walked past the head girl's room he noticed that where the plaque was on the front it was going darker. Perhaps Dumbledore was finally coming to a decision.  
  
Draco went into the bathroom but he left the door open. It was only him in the rooms so no one could see him. He could have his privacy. But something made him shiver as he went to take off his dressing gown. It was the feeling of being watched and he didn't like it. There was a picture of some boy in the portrait, and for some reason the picture didn't move. So slowly while casting a wary eye over the common room he shut the door.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was Christmas day and every one was in the hall for the grand feast. Every one was just getting started when Dumbledore stood up. Both Harry and Ron groaned because it meant that they couldn't eat and they would have to wait longer to fill up their stomachs.  
  
"Everyone, I am sorry to interrupt you from starting this delicious feast, but I have a word or two to say. Well I would like you to all stay behind here once you have finished because the head girl will be announced as soon as we have finished. I will tell you why I have pushed this announcement forward once everyone has filled their stomachs. Well this all I wish to say. Tuck in!"  
  
There were quite a few people who gave a hearty cheer at this announcement. And surprisingly Draco was one of them. He was getting into the Christmas spirit and enjoying it.  
  
Finally like an hour later. Everyone had finished their meal and was quite happy to go and sleep. But Dumbledore still had to have his say, so people had stayed. Practically the whole school had stayed for Christmas which was unusual but then strange things did happen at Hogwarts. So finally Dumbledore stood up.  
  
" Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls . . ." Dumbledore smiled letting the tension grow as he saw the various candidates looking up in anticipation. " this years head girl will be . . . Hermione Granger!"  
  
There was a blast of applause and whistles from Hermione's fellow students as she got pushed gently from her seat by Harry and Ron. She stumbled slightly like Harry once did when his name got shouted out by Dumbledore when the goblet of fire spat out his name. When Hermione had finally reached Dumbledore he gave her a reassuring smile before giving her, her head girls badge.  
  
If Hermione had cared to notice she would have seen that not all the smiles were friendly and that quite a few people weren't clapping. But she didn't notice because this was her moment and she was proud.  
  
Finally when she had stood up there long enough she was allowed to step down out of the limelight, her face was kind of red and she was slightly embarrassed about her redness because she wasn't use to the attention.  
  
They were allowed to go straight to bed after that but Hermione had to stay behind and wait for Dumbledore to tell her were her new common room was. She waved to Harry and Ron as they left the great hall to go to the Gryffindor Tower. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she waited for the last of the students leave the great hall.  
  
Hermione let her mind slowly wonder, her thoughts gradually came round to him. She wondered if now that she was in a different room he would still see her in her dreams. She finally came out of her thoughts when she noticed Dumbledore standing right in front of her. She blushed slightly.  
  
"Well Miss Granger, I can't show you you're new living quarters. Mister Malfoy will show them to you instead" And before she could say another word he smartly turned on his heel and left. Leaving her to stare at Malfoy, waiting for him to speak. Finally he broke the silence.  
  
"Granger, follow me and keep up ok?" Malfoy turned away and started walking quickly out of the hall. He seemed have put the little fight behind him. She ran a little to catch up with him and walked by his side. There was little conversation as he whisked through the corridors and finally came to a halt outside a blank piece of wall. He then said "Bonding" He gave her a cold look and said " Dumbledore picked it" The wall opened to reveal her new living space.  
  
A/N: Well that is it! I have finally finished it! I found my disk with my story on it and started on it immediately! I hope you like it and please review and constructive criticism, not flamers! Like someone called excuseme: I'll have you know that I think that it is good for an 14 year old so there. Anyway I will try to update soon.  
  
Luv Water Demon xXx 


	14. Happy start, tragic ending

Happy start, Tragic ending  
  
Hermione was filled with awe at the site of her new living space. There were loads of books for her to read, a lovely fire place and her very own room! It was fantastic! She stepped into her common room and spun around taking everything in. Finally she stopped and looked at the door leading to her room. Her name was on a plaque at the side of the door decorated with gold and ruby colourings.  
  
Hermione then remembered Draco and saw him sitting on the sofa staring at the portrait on the wall. It was an odd portrait, because it didn't move, and Draco was staring at it with a frown on his face. He then got up and put his face right next to it, and started to feel the painting with his hands, Hermione thought this was all a bit to much so she had to say something.  
  
"Dra - Malfoy what do you think you are doing? It's just a painting"  
  
"Yeah don't you think I know that? It is just strange I . . . never mind I wouldn't expect a Mu - Mudblood to know what I was talking about!" He ended nastily. Hermione then looked at him in anger.  
  
"Malfoy. We have been through this before, I . . . Am . . . Not . . . A . . . MUDBLOOD! You heard what I said the other day, I know you don't like to talk to me or anything but if we have to live together then we should at least be civil to each other, so no calling me names. I don't expect us to be on first name basis, but lets try and be nice to each other." Hermione told him. "That is not too much to ask is it?" She ended.  
  
Draco shrugged. "I suppose not. Fine then GRANGER I am going to bed." Then he stalked off into his room, with the painting forgotten. He slammed his door and started making loads of noise, which annoyed Hermione.  
  
Hermione huffed and sat down on the sofa while sighing. Why was everything so complicated? Malfoy was just so horrible to her, but he said that he would be nice, so maybe he could change. Hermione then went off into some very deep thoughts. Only when she remembered about how she was going to see Harry and Ron did she get up and move.  
  
Slowly she made her way out of the common room and towards Gryffindor tower; even though she was in a totally different part of the castle she knew where to go. She finally came to the Fat Lady and said the new password that had been changed that day "Lion heart", the portrait swung open and Hermione walked in and found herself almost blasted out the common room again by the cheers that met her arrival.  
  
She was pulled forward and given loads of hugs by all her friends, none of whom were Harry and Ron, after about half an hour she finally saw them. As she made her way through the crowds she gave them a stern look. As she reached the she said.  
  
"I suppose it was you two who arranged all of this?" she asked as they nodded, she then smiled "thank you then!" and then she gave them both a big hug. "I just came to tell you that my new room is on the second floor and that I am not going to tell you the password because I want some privacy but . . ." At this point Harry and Ron looked hurt " you can visit me any time, apart from in the middle of the night."  
  
"Umm . . . yeah sorry about that, but we would like to say thanks for all our joke stuff, we're going to have some fun with them" They both chuckled evilly until the portrait opened and Dumbledore cam striding in. There was silence as Dumbledore looked around the room gravely.  
  
"I have some sad news to end such a happy day" He started as the silence grew in the room. "We have lost a fellow Gryffindor. None other then Dean Thomas" Everyone gasped at this point. "He died just a few minutes ago. I am sorry that it should happen on Christmas day. And please it is ok to show emotion so don't hide things. I have to go now because I need to talk to his parents, please comfort each other." Dumbledore then left the room and closed the portrait behind him. There was still silence until the girls started to cry.  
  
Even Hermione cried, tears sprung from her eyes and before Harry and Ron could say anything, she jumped up and pushed the portrait open and ran blindly to her room. For some reason she knew where to go, and she found herself at the wall tears streaming down her face, her voice shook as she said the password and she flung herself onto the sofa and cried her heart out.  
  
She cried and cried and cried. All of her thoughts were morbid ones. She felt so bad about the fact that she hadn't thought about Dean at all during the last week. Even when she was in the hospital wing she didn't go and see him. She had loads of things going on and she didn't even say goodbye to him. This made her cry even harder.  
  
"Granger?! What do you think your doing?" a voice said.  
  
Hermione looked up to see Malfoy staring down at her. He looked quite scared. She had tears all down her face, her eyes were red from crying so much and she was still crying.  
  
"What does it look like I am doing Malfoy? Baking a cake? Just go away! I don't want you here!" She cried and flung a cushion at him. It bounced harmlessly off his chest and he looked at it as it lay on the ground. Hermione then threw another, then another because the sofa was lined with them.  
  
For some reason he just sat down next to her on the sofa and said quietly "Hermione? Do you want to tell me what has happened?" He asked. Hermione looked at him strangely, and then answered "Why would you wanna know?"  
  
He just answered "well, you just look like you could need someone to talk to, and you could talk to me" She gave him a disbelieving look. "Hey you said I should change." He stated  
  
She believed him and soon told him all about Dean and about how he had died that night, and about how she didn't say goodbye to him. She even went as far as telling him how much she had loved Dean. At that point he sort of stiffened and then she started to cry again. He hesitated as he put his arm around her and as she leaned against him. He slowly put his other arm around her because it felt like the right thing to do.  
  
Hermione was still crying onto him and he gently rocked her back and forth to calm her down. It did surprisingly, and they just sat there while Hermione stopped crying and her breathing was returning back to normal.  
  
Hermione kept thinking about how he was so nice and that he had called her Hermione. It just felt so nice them being together, she had a feeling that this had happened before, the feeling she was having while she was leaning against Draco, she was sure that she had felt something like this before but she couldn't remember when.  
  
Suddenly she felt really tired and she gave a huge yawn which meant that it stopped her chain of thoughts, she was right near to remembering where this feeling was from, but now it just vanished. Draco gently shook her.  
  
"Hermione?" when she had murmured a yes he spoke again "I think you should go to bed if you are tired." She sat up slowly and stood up. As she stretched she glanced at the portrait. "That's funny that picture seems to have moved!" Draco laughed.  
  
"Yeah that's what I thought" He stood up too. "I am going to bed now! Do you know that it is almost 10:00?" Hermione looked at her watch.  
  
"Oh, yeah! Time went quickly then. Umm Draco? Why do you have to be so mean when you can be so nice? And by the way I like your hair like that; you know when it is not covered in gel. Well Good night!" Before he could answer her, Hermione ran up to Draco and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered a quick thanks before she ran off to her room leaving a stunned Draco to stare at her door. (A/N: I was gonna leave this here but I decided I had some time left to kill. ()  
  
Hermione was stunned at her new room. She had a massive four poster bed in Gryffindor colours and a big desk. There was a big book case and of course the bathroom which was connected to her room. She clapped her hands excitedly and then hurried to her wardrobe to see if all her clothes were there. They were of course. The only thing missing from this room was crookshanks. He had sadly died when Neville's wand had back fired and had set his fur alight. Unfortunately the fire spread too quickly for him to be saved and sadly he was burnt to a crisp. That had happened at the end of 6th year.  
  
Hermione was happy. She had a room to herself and she felt that it was good that Draco was her friend, or she hoped he was. She quickly got changed into her night dress; it was a long silk one, in a shade of a light green. She pulled her hair down from her pony tail and brushed it. Then she walked into her bathroom and cleaned her teeth. When she came out again she decided that she would like to get a book that she had seen in the common room.  
  
She opened her door cautiously and peered out. Draco must have been in his room because there was no one around. So silently she walked over to the book case and looked for the book that had caught her attention. After about a minutes searching she found it. It looked like an old book. It had a flame red cover with loads of different colours on it. She opened it at once. There was no title on it, which made Hermione want to read it more.  
  
Hermione heard a noise behind her. With her heart beating fast she turned around to see who it was. It was . . . Draco. She blushed slightly.  
  
"What are you doing here?" She asked still blushing, though she didn't know why. It wasn't like he could see anything.  
  
"The same thing as you . . . getting a book." He smiled and that changed his whole appearance. "Yours seems to be an interesting choice. What is it about?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know, but that is what I am going to find out, well good night again." She waved and hurried back to her room. Closing the door silently behind her. Meanwhile Draco headed straight back to his room with no book in his hand.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco was just surrounded in darkness there was no one around, there was no sound. He walked blindly not knowing where he was going. He stopped shortly remembering the night when his father came to him. Like in any dream he reached for his wand and again like in most nightmares it wasn't there.  
  
Slowly he carried on walking until he could hear voices around, then he stopped standing as still as stone. Then a light switched on and Draco ran towards it, glad that at last he could see something. But it was horrible a disgusting thing that couldn't be described as a man. Slowly right in front of Draco's eyes the thing began to change into quite a handsome teenager. Draco's eyes then widened in horror as the boy spoke.  
  
"It is your fault that I died. You will pay, how could you leave your best friend to die. You will pay." Draco saw the boy pull a wand out of his belt and point it a Draco. He then whispered the fatal killing curse as Draco screamed "NO!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione didn't know why but she suddenly woke up. Her throat was really dry and she felt like she needed some water. She reached for her wand, but it wasn't there. She must have left it in the common room. So with an annoyed sigh she got up and flung the covers back. She stepped out onto the floor and felt her way to the door. Leaning against it when she got there. She opened the door excepting to see more darkness. But instead the room was bright, lit by the flames of the fire and leaning against the mantle piece was Draco.  
  
Hermione walked over and placed a hand on his arm. "Draco?"  
  
He spun around and grabbed her neck. She struggled and looked frightened. There was a weird look in his eye, which she didn't like.  
  
"Draco? You're hurting me!" She cried. His grip on her neck got tighter.  
  
"Don't you understand? I did save you! I tried, I had you but something happened!" His grip was still tight as she started to whimper. She couldn't think of anything else to do! She screamed. She screamed good and loud. She didn't expect it to do much. But he still didn't let go! He looked crazy! Hermione was becoming short of breath and she didn't have her wand, she was starting to go limp. With one last effort she screamed as loud as she could again.  
  
The wall slid open and in came Harry and Ron. They looked so mad. With a yell they ran at Malfoy and pulled him off her. She fell to the floor with bruise marks round her neck. Harry pulled Malfoy over to the desk that was in there, and made him sit down while Ron carried Hermione to the sofa.  
  
Once Hermione was sat on the sofa she, looked over at Draco and burst into tears. Ron who was sitting next to her, put his arm around her and tried to comfort her and Harry went over and done the same too. Her throat was so sore. It seemed that something in her crying woke something in Draco, because he had been sitting still ever since Harry had put him there.  
  
He shook himself then looked at the scene before him. Immediately he stood up. "What happened?" He asked. "How did you get in here?" He asked Harry and Ron.  
  
"We knew the password we helped Dumbledore pick it. We knew you would hate the name. And for your first question you almost killed Hermione!" At this point Hermione started crying again.  
  
"What? No I didn't! I don't remember anything!" Draco looked confused "Hermione what happened?"  
  
Hermione tried to speak but she couldn't. She moved her lips and tried to scream but nothing came out. In the end she pointed to Draco then her wounds and looked at him. He understood.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: there you go here is the 14th chapter, you will understand his mood changes soon in a later chapter when everything will be revealed. I promise!! About the last chapter I changed the name because it didn't go with the chapter sorry if t has caused confusion!!!! I hope you like this one and please review!!! If you do thanks Water demon 


	15. Acceptance

Acceptance  
  
Draco stood there horrified. He wouldn't hurt her would he? The truth was yes, he could. He didn't really care about her that much not to hurt her. He had only just started to call her Hermione. Draco thought he was passed the stage of hurting people . . . but obviously not. He then realised that this was why he didn't want friends: he would just hurt them in the end. So to stop it from happening any more he turned his heart to stone again. Whether he thought it was right or not did not matter. He let his head lead him, not his heart. But he didn't remember anything, just his dream! All the rest was a blur.  
  
He had come out into the common room and he stood by the fire place and he could of sworn his nightmare stalker had tapped him on the arm . . . it must have been Hermione. In his fearful and angered state he must of imaged Hermione to be him and attacked her.  
  
He thought about what Professor Snape had said in 5th year about not wearing your heart on your sleeve. He trusted his opinion in this case. He would have to lie he just didn't want to hurt her. Maybe his true feelings about her were coming out. He ignored them though. His change of heart showed on his face, he frowned and had a sneer on his lips, he then spoke.  
  
"Yes, I remember what I done and I don't care that I did it." Draco knew what he had to do: push people away, even if it was a friend because that was what she was to him. "You probably deserved it, I am now going to bed, and don't try to hex me you two . . ." He looked at Harry and Ron ."I can deduct points and get you expelled for it." He turned away because she was crying again and he couldn't watch.  
  
He turned smartly on his heel and stomped away to his room, where he slammed the door. Nothing was seen of him that night. Hermione was crying she still couldn't speak. She saw her wand on the table and picked it up. She wrote in the air: 'Harry, Ron go back now. I will be ok, I just need to sleep, don't worry I will lock my door. Now goodnight. Sleep well!' Hermione then got up and gave them both a hug and ushered them out of the door.  
  
Once they had gone she then walked to her room and put a powerful charm on the door to only recognise her touch. Then she got into bed and fell to sleep. But she did not go to him in her dreams she just slept in a deep sleep not knowing what tomorrow would bring.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione woke up in the morning feeling fresh. She had almost forgotten about last night. But when she tried to speak she couldn't. Her throat still really hurt. She went to a mirror to examine it and it looked worse than ever and it made her want to cry. She got up and went in the shower, coming out fresh and clean. She quickly got dressed and dried her hair. She couldn't cover her bruise because for some reason any sort of cosmetics didn't agree with her. She would just have let it show.  
  
Her polo neck jumper was lost and she didn't have any others. Plus she wanted everyone to see what Malfoy had done to her. Hermione felt a change come over her, she would usually try to cover it up, but now she wanted the world to know. She held her wand tightly and touched the door. Immediately it opened. On the other side of it there was a note. She didn't recognise the handwriting, but she read the note anyway. It read: Hermione come and meet me in the room of requirement at 5:00. Please I need to talk to you. Please come. You'll find out who I am when you come.  
  
She stuffed it into her jeans pocket and then walked out into the corridor. She walked at her own pace to get to the dinner hall, trying to get ready to face the world. When she got there she stopped and took a few deep breaths before throwing the doors open. As she entered everyone looked her way then a hush fell across the hall.  
  
She ignored everyone and sat down at the Gryffindor table. She sat next to Harry and Ron who gave her a hug. She pointed at her throat to show that she still couldn't speak. They understood, so they spoke in a way that she would be able to answer her questions with a nod or a shake of her head. She was really thankful of this. The conversation was good and everything was going smoothly until Ron suggested that she should eat something. She smiled at him and took a slice of toast.  
  
She bit into it and started chewing which was fine. But when it came to the swallowing that was a different matter. She tried but it got stuck. It got stuck right about where her bruises were. She started to choke. Harry and Ron clapped her on the back which brought it up. It fell down onto the plate. She gave Harry and Ron an apologetic look, they shrugged and looked away. Hermione felt like she couldn't eat so she got out her wand again and wrote in the air: 'Right I am going to the infirmary to see Madam Pomfrey, I am not hungry anymore, and I will be in my common room. See you.'  
  
Hermione got up and then walked out of the dinner hall, she walked around the corridors still feeling confused with Draco's change of mood. Finally she was at the doors of the hospital wing. She walked through the doors and knocked on them as she walked past. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and walked over to Hermione.  
  
"What's the problem dear?" She asked in a nice way.  
  
Hermione again lifted up her wand and wrote in the air. This is what she wrote: 'I have a sore throat and I can't talk. Could you check it out please?'  
  
"Certainly just sit on the bed over there, after I have finished would you tell me how you've got those bruises please" She asked.  
  
Hermione went over and sat on the bed. And as she did she felt so dizzy. It soon passed however and she found Madam Pomfrey standing in front of her with her wand in hand. Hermione looked at it and then at her, with a scared look in her eye.  
  
"Don't worry dear, I am just going to point my wand at your throat and it will show me inside the of it. Much quicker than those muggle x-ray things." She explained.  
  
Hermione nodded to show that she understood. Madam Pomfrey pointed at her throat and bluish light came out of her wand. She looked at Hermione's throat. She didn't speak until the light vanished.  
  
"Well it looks like your throat is really sore. That is why you can't eat or speak. But don't worry" She added at the look on Hermione's face "I can fix this in a second"  
  
Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and whispered a few words and pointed at Hermione's throat. Hermione had a weird tingling sensation in her throat; it was as if a feather was being moved up and down it. When it stopped Hermione spoke.  
  
"Thank you!" She said croakily. Madam Pomfrey smiled "Anytime dear, you will be croaky for a few days then everything will be better.  
  
"Miss Granger, what happened how did you get those bruises, well the bruises that were there before I removed them?"  
  
Hermione opened her mouth and then faltered "I don't know. I can't remember. I just woke up with it . . . I think." She said uncertainly "Well can I get back to my room? I have loads of homework to do." Madam Pomfrey nodded.  
  
"If you remember anything come and see me, I think Dumbledore should know about this. Those bruises were nasty. So come to me again ok?" Madam Pomfrey asked.  
  
Hermione nodded and then walked out of the hospital wing. When she was round the corner she ran. She didn't know why she was running. She just knew that it felt good. The air rushing past her and her hair being pushed out of her face. It made her partially forget about her worries and her bruises . . . it felt good.  
  
She stopped running when she found herself outside her common room. She stopped and took a couple of deep breaths, and said the password. She smiled as the wall was opening. The password reminded her of the fact that Draco didn't like it. Her smile faded slightly, she had a quick memory of something which he done but she couldn't remember it was on the edge of her memory. She laughed slightly at the thought of Harry and Ron if she told them she wasn't sure of something. She walked into the common room with her head held high.  
  
Hermione walked straight into her room not taking any notice of what was surrounding her, she was still thinking of that unsure memory that she had had, if she paid more attention she would have noticed that something has slipped out of her pocket but she didn't so as she walked into her room she pointed her wand at the door and quickly flicked her wrist and the door closed with a snap behind her.  
  
She quickly walked over to her desk and sat down and started on her ton of homework she had. She would most probably be there all day.  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
Draco was in the hall eating his breakfast when she came in. The doors opened and there she was walking into the hall ignoring everyone else, just concentrating on the Gryffindor table. Her neck was bare; revealing her bruises . . . the bruises that he had caused her. He felt a pang of guilt rise up inside of him.  
  
He looked down guiltily and stared at his plate. As he stared his plate swayed in front of him and he felt dizzy. He breathed deeply and shook his head. He looked up and as he did he noticed Hermione walking out of the hall. Her bruises were visible to everyone, as he looked he thought "How did she get those bruises?" Then like a quick flash he had a memory but couldn't remember where from. In this Memory there was just Hermione with what looked like his hands coming away from her throat. He shook his head again and just rejected that idea.  
  
Draco quickly got up from the table and walked out of the hall and to his common room. He got to the wall and said the password, and he shuddered slightly as he said it because he had another memory but he couldn't remember what it was from.  
  
He gave himself a shake and then decided to get a book off of the shelves and have a quick read. Draco walked to the bookcase and extended his hand to reach for a book about healing. He then remembered about how he had told Hermione that he had wanted to get a book the night before but all he had wanted to do was see her and he smiled at the memory of her blushing.  
  
He grabbed the book and sat down on the sofa and began to read. After about half an hour he had learned to heal minor injuries and he felt quite pleased with himself. He heard the sound of the wall opening and looked up to see Hermione walking across the common room staring straight at her room, not taking any notice of him. He felt kind of hurt and was about to call out to her when she shut her door.  
  
He felt kind of sad. He hadn't done anything to her. He looked at the wall as it closed back into place and he noticed a bit of paper on the floor. Leaning forward Draco bent down and picked it up. It was a note to Hermione. Telling her to go and meet someone at 5:00 in the Room of requirement. Draco looked at the note in suspicion then he looked at Hermione's door and back to the paper. He decided to go as well. Just out of curiosity . . . and maybe he decided to go because a different reason as well.  
  
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A/N: Well there it is chapter 15. Thank you to all the reviews. And just to say that things might be a little more exciting in the upcoming chapters . . . well I hope you find them interesting. And another thing Draco is not under the imperius curse it's just that hopefully things are explained more in this chapter. If you are wondering why he is being so nice to Hermione it is because he just realises that he doesn't have to be nasty to her. Thanks again for all those who reviewed. Water Demon 


	16. Meetings

Meetings  
  
When Hermione woke she realised that she had slept for at least 5 hours. It was about 1:00. She had had the weirdest dream. She was with her dream guy and he didn't speak or do anything thing he just stood there. She found this odd and judging by her surroundings it looked like she was in the room of requirement. Her dream guy was just about to speak and them she woke up. It was really strange.  
  
She sighed and got up. As she did she dug into her pockets to find that note. It wasn't there! She started to panic because she didn't want to let anyone know she was meeting someone. Hermione started to retrace her steps and so she walked back into the common room and there by the coffee table was her note!  
  
She breathed a sigh of relief that she had found it. Hermione looked around and saw that Draco wasn't around. 'Good' she thought 'at least he didn't read it'. Hermione didn't know why but she wanted to keep this to herself it was strange, it made her feel special, someone actually wanted to talk to her and it didn't seem like this person wanted to talk to her about homework.  
  
Hermione felt hungry so she walked out of the common room and to the great hall for some late lunch.  
  
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Draco left the note on the floor and decided to read some more, since his book was pretty interesting. So he sat down on the sofa again and began to read.  
  
Quite a few hours had passed before Draco stopped reading. He still hadn't finished the book, but he still found it interesting and he was still learning more facts. His stomach rumbled to inform him that it was time for lunch. Draco looked at his watch and saw it was 12:00. He got up and walked out of the wall concealing the common room and went down to lunch.  
  
He was gone about half an hour before he came back. He had brought a few slices of toast back to munch on as he read some more of his healing book. He read until his toast was gone which was a surprisingly short time. Draco yawned loudly and suddenly felt so tired, he looked at his watch and it was about 12:45 so he decided to have a quick nap before doing anything else, he stumbled over to his room and flung himself on the bed and was asleep almost straight away.  
  
When he awoke it was about 4:50. He quickly stood up and then remembered that he was going to follow Hermione to see who she was meeting. He had had a weird dream. He was standing in what looked like the room of requirement and he was standing opposite what looked like Hermione and he was about to say something to her and then she vanished it was weird. Then the remainder of the dream was about he old friend Andre who had tragically died at the beginning of year 6.  
  
Draco kept having nightmares about him, Andre was a shape shifter and could change into what ever he wanted. Draco kept having nightmares where Andre kept saying that it was Draco's fault that Andre had died and Andre kept changing into gross, unimaginable things, this dream terrified Draco.  
  
Draco was thinking all of this while he went into his trunk and got out his invisibility cloak that he had gotten from his father just before he went to Azkaban. Draco put it on and disappeared from view. When he was sure that he couldn't be seen he quickly walked to the room of requirement trying to be quick but keep silent.  
  
As he got onto the floor he saw Hermione outside the room pacing backwards and forwards trying to make the room appear. Here was Draco's chance to slip in undetected. He ran stealthily up to her and stood right behind her waiting for the door to appear.  
  
The minutes ticked slowly by and Hermione was on the verge of going back because she thought it was some prank. Then finally the door appeared and Hermione quickly smiled as she stepped into the room with Draco close on her heels.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione was so excited she was going to meet the person who had sent her the letter. She had read most of the day after she had woken up and eaten, just to pass the time but now it was time and she was walking through the door to meet the mystery person.  
  
As she walked into the room the door slammed shut. As it did a boy stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the room. He was the fittest guy Hermione had ever seen . . . well maybe apart from Draco. But this guy filled her with awe and he was cute, he wore a cheeky smile on his face when he saw her jump at the sound of the door slamming. She smiled at him.  
  
"I got your note" She stated nervously. He smiled even more when she said this but still didn't say a word. "So . . . will you tell me your name so I can at least know who I am meeting with." Hermione asked. He was looking Hermione up and down, and Hermione thought that pretty creepy.  
  
"Certainly" He said "My name is Andre . . . Andre Snohtyp (A/N: His last name is pronounced: Snow-type)" He extended his hand for her to take which she did. But he didn't shake it he slowly bowed down slightly and brought her hand to his lips "and of course I know that you are Hermione Granger" He smiled as he said this while putting her hand back at her side while she blushed. No one had treated her like that before.  
  
"I also know that you are not some mudblood filth as most people seem to think" He watched her with amused eyes as she gasped at his knowledge of her. They had slowly without realising it walked more to the centre of the room away from the door.  
  
"And how do you know that Andre Snohtyp?" She asked him with some amusement. Before he could answer though they both heard a gasp coming from the other side of the room. Andre whipped out his wand and looked at the place where they had heard the noise through narrowed eyes.  
  
Hermione too got out her wand and together the slowly approached the noise. Without warning Andre started to blast anything in front of him with the stunning spell. They heard a moan and a thud of something heavy falling to the floor. An evil grin spread across Andres face as again they crept on waiting to see who was in the room with them.  
  
Hermione had never noticed it before but the room of requirement had no lights in it apart from the bright full moon shining in through the wall length window, the room was nicely decorated with moon and stars, Hermione looked at them and smiled. "The moon and the stars are my favourite things" She thought to her self.  
  
"I know!" Andre told her. She looked at him with an open mouth. "Reading minds is kinda my thing" He told her. She nodded her head.  
  
"Well could you not do it please? It kinda makes me nervous" She added a nervous laugh.  
  
"Of course" he replied "Now lets try and find our mystery visitor!" Slowly they searched the ground for any signs of another person but amazingly they couldn't find anyone. After about 10 minutes searching they stopped looking, because it was getting kind of hopeless.  
  
"Do you think you could tell me how you know who I am? It's just I've only told a few people so I don't see how you could know" She looked into his eyes just to see if there was anything there to give her a clue whether this was all some huge big joke. But all she found was serious eyes peering back at her.  
  
For awhile it seemed like he was doing some very quick thinking because he didn't answer straight away. After a while he spoke very cautiously and slowly as if trying to get the words right. "Well obviously I can read minds right?" She nodded "Well what if I told you that just as you were walking into this room you were thinking about who you were and I sort of well . . . listened in" He ended sheepishly.  
  
She smiled at him then. "that's ok, but just keep it to yourself right?" He nodded in agreement. "So what exactly did you want to talk to me about . . . or was this it?" She asked, while wondering how long she had been there.  
  
"About half an hour. Don't worry no one will miss you yet!" He gave her a slow chilling grin. "Oops! I wasn't supposed to do that was I?" He gave her his sheepish grin. "And yes that was about it. I just wanted to tell you I know who you are and I will be there if you need me. Just come to this room and think the exact same thoughts as you did tonight. You could stay longer, if you wanted?"  
  
Hermione was going to say no straight away and leave. But there was another part of her that was changing and that longed to be dangerous and know what it was like to play unsafe that part wanted to stay. But at the moment her unchanged part was winning.  
  
"Erm . . . no I should get back though I will keep the offer in mind . . . night!" So Hermione left the room. Things were a bit dazed and it was a blur getting to her room. But she got to the wall and said the password. As she stepped into the common room she saw Draco on the sofa reading a book.  
  
"Where have you been?" He asked. She looked down and replied.  
  
"Err . . . well you see I got this note from someone wanting to see me, and I went to see who that person was, he was nice enough and he just wanted to talk to me about . . . homework, that's it he wanted to talk to me about homework" Hermione finished speaking and bowed her head even more, letting her hair cover her face. She didn't know why she was lying slightly but she just had a feeling that he might get upset. She didn't know why he would but she had a feeling that Draco was the jealous type of guy. She just wanted to protect him, did that mean that she liked him or . . . did he like her, she was confused.  
  
"Well can I at least know this guys name?" Draco inquired.  
  
"Who said it was a he?" Hermione answered looking up.  
  
"You did, you said 'he wanted to talk to me about homework' so what's his name?" Draco replied while looking at her and keeping eye contact.  
  
Hermione didn't see anything wrong with telling him "His name is Andre Snohtyp"  
  
"Right" Draco replied and all the while they were just there looking at one another, as if there was an agreement to stay silent.  
  
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~  
  
After Hermione had walked into the room of requirement Draco stealthily tiptoed to the other side of the room. He just wanted to make sure that she would be safe and he be there for her if anything had happened. He had just come to realise that he did care for her quite a bit even if he wouldn't admit it to himself just yet. He liked seeing her everyday, he didn't know it but he did feel happier when she was around.  
  
So Draco stood in a dark corner while he watched the door slam and Hermione jump in surprise. He saw some one step out of the shadows and Hermione speak to him. He couldn't really catch what they were saying because they were still standing by the door. Though he could still see all their actions.  
  
He saw the boy talk to her back he couldn't see him very well because from Draco's position the boys face was in shadow. He saw him extend his hand and Hermione extend hers, he saw him take Hermione's hand and bow down to kiss it. Draco felt a hot flush of envy and anger towards the guy and even more so when he saw Hermione blush and the way he kept smiling at her.  
  
They were drawing into the centre of the room as they were speaking and they were now close enough to let Draco hear what they were saying. Though he still couldn't see the mystery guys face.  
  
". . . not some mudblood filth as most people seem to think" Draco looked up at the guy in surprise, how had he known that, his voice was seeming ever more familiar to Draco he just couldn't place it.  
  
"And how do you know that Andre Snohtyp?" Draco gasped when he heard the name. No it couldn't be, he was dead, he had to be dead! Unfortunately they had heard him, and at last he could see Andre's face. It was just how he had remembered it, though it was the first time Draco had seen him look at something through narrowed eyes.  
  
Draco panicked they were coming towards him, he was trapped, they had their wands out and they were steadily coming closer! They were going to catch him! Without warning though Andre started blasting things in front of him with the stunning spell, Draco saw his chance of escape and took it, he moaned loudly and fell with a thump to the floor.  
  
He then started crawling on his hands and knees to the other side of the room slowly and silently because he could slip past them now. He saw Andre's evil grin and didn't like it.  
  
The next half an hour passed, and Draco learnt that Andre could read minds, and Draco didn't believe for one second that Andre had read Hermione's mind and that's how he knew what she really was, though Hermione seemed to believe it.  
  
Draco's blood started boiling when he heard that Andre had only asked Hermione to come so that he could basically introduce himself to her in a non-obvious way, and he wanted her to stay longer as well. Andre was hitting on his girl! Well Hermione didn't know that she was Draco's girl yet but Draco didn't worry about that. He saw her hesitate and then answer 'no'. Draco was glad of this and Draco ran out stealthily straight after her.  
  
Hermione started walking slowly in the direction of their common room. So Draco took this opportunity to rush past her and make it look like he had been there all the time. He rushed around the corridors until he got to the wall. He said the password and quickly ran into his room and flung the invisibility cloak in his trunk, he grabbed a book and ran and jumped onto the sofa.  
  
He only had wait about 5 minutes until Hermione came in. He asked her where she had been, he looked dismayed when he saw her look down and answer him, he wondered why she was lying slightly, but then again she didn't know he was there the whole time, at least she was telling the truth about Andre's name. then they were just staring at each other.  
  
It was then when Draco decided that he needed to show Hermione how much she meant to him, and that he would like her to be his girl. Oh yes he would show her.  
  
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A/N: There it's done finally. Hopefully there will be more romance in the next chappies until then please carry on reviewing, and if you have any ideas or suggestions about upcoming chapters please tell me!!!! 


	17. Making Plans

Making Plans  
  
It was Draco that first broke the silence, he just got up from the sofa and still looking at Hermione he whispered "See ya" and walked out of the doorway, pushing the wall open as he did so, leaving Hermione standing there looking after him.  
  
Draco walked around the corridors finally getting to the main doors that led out of the castle. He threw them open and closed his eyes as the cold evening wind whipped his cheeks. Everyone else was at dinner, and Hermione was in the common room. He started to head towards the lake.  
  
As he was walking he was thinking about how he really did like Hermione! When professor Snape had told him he had noticed changes Draco was scared that he was going to find out somehow, because the truth was that even then his secret was about Hermione even then he sort of realised that he did like her, he was afraid that someone would find out, though he didn't know how Professor Snape could possibly find out.  
  
So he tried to make it look like he hated her, that he would rather be anywhere else than with her. But then when he found out that she was in fact a Pureblood, it took away the reason for him to hate her. It meant that he could like her and not get stick from the other Slytherins. He realised that his feeling for her began to grow right about in the middle of 6th year. He had ignored them believing it was a silly phase, but the feeling did not go away, however hard he tried he just couldn't stop being attracted to her.  
  
Maybe deep down he was attracted to the pureblood in her. Well there was no denying it he liked her and he just had to make her realise that.  
  
Then at that moment a strange memory came to his head: he was holding Hermione and they were just standing there doing nothing just holding each other, then he remembered himself saying: 'to dream or not to dream'. Where had that come from?  
  
Then he remembered! In his dream . . . or wait was it Hermione's dream? He had walked around the lake twice and he wasn't thinking of stopping he was starting to piece everything together. Somehow his and Hermione's dreams had become interwoven. She didn't seem to know who he was though. How their dreams had interwoven he could not say but at least he counted dreaming about her a good dream.  
  
He would show her that he . . . cared for her. Soon but not yet. He had to get her to like him first. He just had to be himself, he had to smile! Yes! That is what she liked to see him smile! He would show her, yes he would! He pieced the last piece of his plan together and slowly he walked back towards the castle. It was really dark now and he could barely see the lake behind him.  
  
He glanced at his watch, it was 8:00 he had been out there for about two hours thinking and walking. He didn't mind. As he walked through the front doors he decided to go down to the kitchens and pick up some food, he was really hungry! Thinking is really tiring business. So he slowly made his way down to the kitchens. But as he was going he suddenly thought of Harry and Ron! He didn't think they would be to pleased about what he thought of Hermione! He thought to himself 'screw them. I can like who ever I want to' And that was a very Malfoyish thing to say.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione just stared at him as he walked out of the common room. He didn't seem as upset as she thought he would be. This year at Hogwarts was just way to freaky. She was in love with a guy who haunts her dreams, who in the beginning she hated so much, she was seeing a strange guy who she thought was a little creepy and who she had never seen before. But the most freakiest thing that had happened that year was that she was friends with Draco Malfoy, and she found she did like him a lot when he was nice.  
  
Maybe she did have something with him, a thing which she would never admit to, and he would never admit to having a thing with her. So all in all their friendship was doomed. Harry and Ron wouldn't like her being friends with him. Things were just . . . well complicated.  
  
Hermione didn't know what was going on with he life. All she knew was there was someone out there who really did love her. Who or where he was she didn't know, but she hoped to meet him soon.  
  
Hermione decided that she would go down to the Great Hall for some dinner. She got up, went out of the common room door and made her way down to the hall. Upon entering she heard her name being called. She looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Harry and Ron waving for her to come sit by them. She sat down with them and they exchanged greetings. They talked happily together until they started eating, then there was silence because they couldn't concentrate on eating and talking at the same time . . . except maybe Hermione but it would be hard to have a remotely decent conversation with Harry and Ron when they were eating.  
  
So time passed by and they finished their meal and went their separate ways. Hermione got into the common room and found that Draco was still not back. So she settled herself down on one of the common room sofas and feeling lazy she just summoned her book to her with her wand. It was the strange book with the flame red cover, she still hadn't read it properly, just glanced it a few of it's pages, and from what she had seen the writing on the pages were tiny, it would take her quite a while to finish the book.  
  
Amazingly enough the book was about love, it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. As soon as she had read the first couple of pages she was immersed in it, she didn't even hear the wall open and Draco walk in with his arms full of food, in fact she didn't know anyone was there at all into Draco was standing right behind her, even then she didn't notice. Draco then cleared his throat and she jumped and dropped the book where it fell with a clatter on the floor.  
  
"Draco!" Hermione stammered "I didn't see you there. Where have you been? You've been gone for hours" Draco looked at her, then surprised her by smiling.  
  
"I was walking around outside for a bit . . . to get some fresh air and stuff, then as you can see I went to the kitchens for some food. Err . . ." there was an awkward silence "what book are you reading?" He asked peering down at the book still on the floor.  
  
"Oh, it's just a retelling of a muggle book called Beauty and the Beast, you wouldn't like it, it is about romance" She blushed slightly "You might say I'm into this stuff because I am a romantic myself, you know being swept off my feet, I'm an old fashioned girl . . ." She realised she had been rambling and by the stunned and confused look on Draco's face she could see she had lost him. "Never mind" she said laughing slightly.  
  
"Why would anyone want to be swept off their feet?" Draco inquired still confused why anyone would want to be swept off their feet and fall on the floor. "Won't it hurt when you fall in the floor?"  
  
Hermione burst out laughing at his last remark. "What's so funny?" Draco asked. "I didn't mean literally swept off your feet" She laughed some more "It means you know being hopelessly in love." She sighed romantically.  
  
At this point Draco was more than a bit freaked out. "Right" He said before sitting down beside her and asking if she wanted some food. He saw her eyebrows rise when he asked and he just explained that he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't share things with her since they were technically living together.  
  
"Well I see a problem" Hermione stated "You don't exactly like me that much, I mean we were enemies right up until what a couple days ago"  
  
"People can change can't they?" He answered simply. Hermione shrugged her shoulders in agreement and they started eating together, there was silence until they had finished and Hermione told him she was going to read for a bit, he then surprised he again by asking her if he could join her as well. Hermione agreed, and so they sat there on the sofa side by side caught up in their own books, but keeping each other company.  
  
Finally after a couple of hours reading Hermione stirred and yawned, she closed her book and got off the sofa. Draco who felt her get up asked her where she was going.  
  
"I'm quite tired now and I'm going to bed. Goodnight Draco" She walked to her room and when she turned to shut her door Draco called out to her, "Goodnight Hermione" Then she was gone, Draco sighed and got up off the sofa and went to his own room. His plan would start at the beginning of the term.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A couple of days later the new school term began, and Hermione was delighted, it meant that she could finally have something to do, to occupy her day. For last couple of days of the holiday Hermione had been spending all her time with Harry and Ron, where they joked and Hermione Harry got beaten by Ron at wizards chess, they didn't mind though because it gave Ron something to be proud of, plus it was the only thing that he could beat Hermione at. The time passed quickly and it was the morning of the fist school day, Hermione was sitting with Harry and Ron when Dumbledore stood up.  
  
"Welcome back to Hogwarts for everyone who has been away this holiday. First I need to inform you that due to the fact that there is a magical bug going round and most of the teachers are off sick (Harry and Ron both wished one of the teachers was Snape but were disappointed to see he was sitting at the teachers table looking as sour as usual) we have to change who you have your lessons with, there will always be two houses in one lesson and your timetables have been modified, please look at your timetables now so you are aware who you are having lessons with, now enjoy the rest of your breakfast" Dumbledore sat down and everyone began talk and get out their timetables.  
  
"This looks quite hopeful" said Ron as he fished out his timetable out of his bag, "we might have no lessons with Slytherin it might be Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw!" But Ron's face fell as he saw that paired up on his timetable was . . . Slytherin! "Oh, why us, why us?" Ron moaned loudly "Why do you hate me God?" He asked looking up at the heavens.  
  
"I don't think it is a matter of God hating you Ron" Hermione stated, "It's whether Dumbledore hates you or not which is the question, he is the one who makes up the timetables not God"  
  
At this point Ron clasped his hands together and looking in Dumbledore's direction began whining loudly, "Prof. Dumbledore why do you hate me?"  
  
He then looked sulky and said he had gone off his food, and to make matters worse he just noticed that they had potions with Snape straight after breakfast. "What! We're not supposed to have Potions until Wednesday!" Ron howled, Hermione then reminded him that it was probably the Slytherin's timetable they were following.  
  
According to Ron it was the worst day of school he had ever known, being stuck with the Slytherin's in every lesson and having potions, what could be worse? Hermione didn't mind however, she just agreed with Ron for the sake of it. Just as everyone was about to get up and go for their fist lessons Dumbledore stood up again.  
  
"Sorry I forgot, I have to say one more thing. All prefects you have to work with each other in every lesson and it has to be a girl boy pairing, that is if you are in another prefects lesson, which you should be" At this point all the prefects moaned loudly and began grumbling to each other, until they were silenced by Dumbledore speaking again, "Also the Head girl and Head boy have to work together in all their lessons, and I know that they are in each others lessons" Dumbledore paused and then spoke again, "Oh, and it is not because I dislike any of you, that you are with your paired house" He looked straight at Ron, who turned red "it is because it was chosen at random, funny how these things work though isn't it?" He smiled before sitting down.  
  
Harry and Ron (who was still red) looked at Hermione in pity. "Wow Hermione, image you have to live with ferret boy and now you have to work with him 24/7 too. Bad luck" Harry said in sympathy. Hermione pretended to look shocked about the fact that she was working with Malfoy. But secretly she didn't care.  
  
"Oh, well, I'll try to survive" She said grimly before they walked out of the hall and to their first lesson.  
  
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Draco was secretly delighted about he fact that he had to work with Hermione. It would help his plan along quite well. It would mean that if they were working together they would have to be nice each other. Draco then made his way gleefully down to his potion lesson.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A/N: That is chapter 17 as you know!! Please could you tell me if his feelings for Hermione are moving to fast or are out of character, just to say that in the next chapter there might be some mushy scenes!!! Also are my chapter to long, because I try not to make them too long but sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Please answer these questions if you review. Thank you for everyone who reviews!!!!! Luv water demon ( 


	18. Confessions

Confessions  
  
So time passed by and Draco was being nice to Hermione, calling her by her first name, chatting to her, talking to her politely and generally being a nice person to be with. He also found out a lot about her, like she loved chocolate, her favourite types of book were romance, thriller, mystery and horror. He found out when her birthday was, and what she liked to do in her spare time. After a little over a month of spending time with her he had found out all there was to know about her.  
  
It was now the 12th of February and Gryffindor and Slytherin were still paired together, even though the teachers were all well again. One breakfast Dumbledore told them that it would be too much hassle to put them back again and that they would remain in their pairs till the end of the term. Most people had been annoyed but Draco wasn't, he was secretly happy about it, it meant he could spend more time with Hermione.  
  
He now knew how to make her smile and knew what annoyed her and how he annoyed her. It was a special day for Draco, he was going to apologise to Hermione for all the mean stuff he had done to her for the past 7 years. He was quite nervous about it because it was a lot he was apologising for. He thought his plan was working so far, as they spent their free time together when Hermione wasn't with Harry and Ron. Crabbe and Goyle never came and saw Draco, it could have been something to do with the fact that they didn't know the password to his common room. But the fact still remained that when Hermione went with Harry and Ron he was on his own, and he had spent most of that time wondering if Hermione liked him yet, and he was doing it at that moment while he was playing with his breakfast.  
  
When Draco and Hermione were working together in their classes they were able to make it look as though they were just talking to each other out of boredom and they weren't too happy with the arrangement. But as soon as they were on their own they sounded like two best mates laughing and chatting together, if someone had caught them like that, they would have never have guessed that they were once sworn enemies.  
  
Hermione was sitting with Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table, they were talking about quidditch (big surprise), Hermione however was daydreaming, in fact she was thinking about Draco and all the time she had spent with him. She too knew all there was to know about Draco and some bits that he had told her she found quite sad and upsetting. She found that in the month and a bit that she had spent with him, in class and out of class (when she wasn't with Harry and Ron) she had grown to like him quite a lot. He was no longer mean, sarcastic and moody, but at some points quite cheerful, funny and good to talk to.  
  
She began not to think of him as the boy who had made her life hell for 7 years but as her friend! She remembered thinking that she would never like him, and how much she wished he was never there, now she thought the opposite. She found it strange how much your feelings could change for someone in a month if you got to know them and that is what she had done. She had told him everything there was to know about her. Well, when she thought he could be trusted and that he wasn't being nice to her because he was playing a cruel trick. Hermione gave a dreamy sigh that caught Harry and Ron's attention, they stopped talking about quidditch to give her a bewildered stare. When she didn't respond Ron waved his hand in front of her face, she still continued to stare into space, she had a goofy grin on her face.  
  
"Hey Hermione!" Harry said snapping his fingers in front of her face, "Earth to Hermione, come in Hermione!!" when she didn't respond again Ron grabbed her shoulders shook her and said "Hey!! Snap out of it!!!"  
  
"Huh?" Hermione said confused. What had just happened?  
  
"Finally we have your attention" Ron said sarcastically, "you were daydreaming and it took you ages to snap out of it!" Ron then smirked "Who were you thinking about? Anyone I know" He chuckled.  
  
"Who said I was dreaming about someone?" Hermione asked, "and even if I was" she stammered, "why should I tell you?"  
  
"Ok, ok, down girl I was only asking, but from reaction I think it was someone. Tell us who was it?" he persisted.  
  
"No I don't want to tell you" Hermione responded, she finally started to finish her breakfast.  
  
"Awww, come on tell us" Ron said again.  
  
"No just leave it!" Hermione almost shouted.  
  
"Why are you being so touchy, I only want to know who it is, can't you even tell your best friend who it is?" Ron was looking angry and sounding angry as well.  
  
"No I can't and I won't tell someone who can't respect my own privacy!" Hermione's eyes flashed and she stood up and stalked out of the hall angrily pushing the doors open as she went. She huffed about the school corridors until she made it to the school library, just as she was about to go inside she gave a small growl of annoyance. She decided she would stay there until it was time for her first lesson to commence, unluckily it was potions, but she didn't care, at least she wouldn't have to work with Ron.  
  
She only had to wait 5 minutes, when it was time to go she walked calmly out of the library and down to the potions classroom. She saw that everyone was just making their way inside and followed after the last person, taking her seat beside Draco. She sat down and immediately opened her book not looking around her, trying to stay calm. She saw Draco open his mouth to speak to her but at that moment Snape swooped into the room and began to try and teach them a healing potion. It helped to heal the mind as well as the body, giving the drinker peace and calm. Hermione found this a coincidence because it was exactly what she needed.  
  
She thought her life had turned around since the fatal day in which she was late for breakfast and when the bizarre stuff had started happening. She had made it for over a month without passing out, being late, almost dying and being visited by strange people. She had not met with Andre since that night over a month ago, and she had almost forgotten about him. She had been with her dream guy every night and she was no closer to working out who he was.  
  
Finally Snape stopped droning on and let them make the potion. He told them that if they wanted to they could take the potion with them if it was brewed correctly.  
  
Draco then had his chance to talk to Hermione. She saw him walk tentatively towards her and she calmed down, so that he would not be the one she took her anger out on.  
  
"Granger?" He said. They had realised that if they called each other by their first names people would notice there friendship. He began to whisper quietly so only she could hear what he had to say. "Meet me outside our common room after this lesson" She nodded. He nodded then they continued their lesson as normal with Hermione wondering why he wanted to meet her.  
  
For both Hermione and Draco, Snape's lesson went very slowly and the time crawled by. At the end of the lesson their potions were brewed and Hermione asked Snape if she could take hers away with her, Snape looked confused for a moment as if he was wondering why the top student in the school would need this sort of potion, he then nodded saying that she should only take a couple of drops other wise it will make her too calm and relaxed, Hermione nodded and said that she had studied this potion and knew what to do, and what would happen if she took too much of the potion, she would slip into a deep sleep, quite like a coma, know one who has done that has ever woken up, Hermione shuddered at that thought.  
  
Snape gave her another nod and she was on her way back to the common room to see Draco. Because it was a double potions lesson it meant that it went on till break. Hermione rounded the corner and there was Draco just as he said, waiting by the wall. As she came nearer he heard her footsteps and looked up and smiled, which she returned. He took hold of her arm and whispered the password and led her into their common room. Hermione was a little bit puzzled by this and knew that he would explain when they were inside. The wall slid shut with a quick snap behind them.  
  
Draco turned around and looked a Hermione with a nervous look on his face. She grew increasingly anxious and asked him why he had whispered the password.  
  
"Because . . ." He replied, "I have changed the password" He smirked "I didn't like the fact that Harry and Ron can barge in here anytime, plus they were hiding round the corner!" He gave a small chuckle.  
  
"They were hiding round the corner?" Hermione gasped, "Why?"  
  
"They have been following me since potions, they heard me ask you to meet me here. Oh and the password is: Dreams" Draco informed her.  
  
"Ok, that's got the password sorted out, now why did you want to meet me?" She asked getting straight to the point.  
  
"Well-l" He stammered, "you see I . . . I . . . wanted to ask you . . . well tell you actually that I . . ." He looked at her nervous once more, "what I really want to say is that I am . . . I am really sorry for they way I have treated you for the last 7 years" He grew red, "Do you think you would be able . . . to . . . forgive me . . . please?" He asked a little sheepish.  
  
Hermione's mouth was slowly opening in amazement through his little speech and now she was looking at him with her mouth open at him like a goldfish. She shook herself and started stammering back "Well I suppose I could forgive you, yes I forgive you" She beamed at him.  
  
He smiled back. "Thank you Hermione, I was really nervous in case you said no. I like our friendship."  
  
"I wouldn't say no, you have been so nice to me over the last month, how could I say no!" She then hesitated ready to go when he said "Hold on I want to give you something first" She stood still amazed again.  
  
He walked up to her, put his hand on her cheek and kissed her slowly on her lips. She stood there stunned as he actually blushed and ran out of the common room. She still stood there a smile forming on her lips thinking about what had just happened, she touched her cheek then her lips and smiled even more feeling that she defiantly didn't need the relaxing potion now. She then skipped out of the common room in time for her next lesson.  
  
The day passed by in a whiz, and even the next day was lost in a blur, Hermione had spent the last day walking around in a whirl bumping into people and giggly to herself. Also blushing at the memory of her first kiss with Draco. Even when she looked up at him she blushed, and had to look away. She hadn't really spoken to Harry and Ron much, only when the Slytherin's didn't take the same lessons as her, could she be alone with them, but there was hardly any conversation. Finally she came to lie down in her bed at the end of a hard days work. She remembered that it was going to be the 14th the next day, and didn't really look forward to it, knowing that she would be alone again.  
  
She sighed and started to drift off to sleep knowing who she would be meeting.  
  
Hermione opened her eyes and there standing before her was her dream guy just as he always was. She sighed as he took her in his arms.  
  
"What's wrong love?" He asked. He looked at her concerned, even though he was still a silhouette.  
  
"Oh it's nothing" She pulled away from him and sighed again. "Well it is something" She began, "It's just I feel so guilty being here with you, and I still don't know your name!" She looked at him giving him a hint. "When I think I like someone else!" He let go of her hand and then asked who it was. She bit her lip and then before answering she looked at him seriously, "well I think I do, this incident happened and some other stuff happened, and well I think I like this guy called . . . Draco Malfoy! It's just that he has been so nice to me and well I liked the person I got to know!"  
  
He looked really thoughtful, he just stood there looking at her.  
  
"So you would understand that I can't see you anymore because I can't stand feeling so guilty, you do understand, don't you?" She looked at him pleading with her eyes that he would. "Would you like to dance?" He asked ignoring her question. He held out his hand to her, and even though she knew he was dodging the question she took his hand. He spun her round and caught her in his embrace. She was wearing a ballroom gown and he was wearing formal robes. They danced slowly as the wordless music filled their heads, and filled the air around them. She had her head on his chest and her arm round his back, his arm was round her waist and their free hands were clasped, they just danced slowly in the whirl of music until suddenly the dream faded and Hermione woke up.  
  
Hermione sat up hating it when she was woken up in the middle of a good dream, and it had been good! She sighed and got out of bed, thinking of getting her book from the common room, she opened her door and went to try and find it. She was barely looking for a minute when Draco's door opened and he came out himself.  
  
"Hi! What are you doing up?" he smiled at her.  
  
"Just looking for my book, I got woken up" She smiled back at him as he came over and helped her look. They had been searching for about 5 minutes when Hermione noticed something odd. They were both humming the same tune, and it wasn't just any tune, it was the tune that she had just been dancing to in her dream, she knew that he couldn't have possibly heard it anywhere else as she had never heard it before, it had seemed entirely new. She stopped but he continued to hum, then it clicked, it explained everything, the Bloody Baron everything that had happened . . . Draco was the guy from her dreams.  
  
A/N: Well it hasn't got that mushy yet but it will and to all you people out there who read this I am going to post a new chapter up at least every week, but under some circumstances it might have to be two weeks!! Well please review and tell me how I am doing!!! Water Demon. 


	19. Ah, sweet love

A/N: First of all I would like to say how sorry I am that I have not updated sooner! First of all there was a slight problem with the plot so I had to change things, then my internet isn't working properly and I couldn't get this uploaded. So I hope you will forgive me and well . . . read and review this chapter!! Sorry again! Also sorry about the mix up. I upload the document but for some reason it uploaded chapter 18!  
  
And thanks so much to: Storywritter10791 and Kara Black. Who spotted this for me, thank you, I wouldn't have spotted it!  
  
Ah, sweet love  
  
"Draco!? No! No, it couldn't be him could it? No, no it can't be, that is so unfair, he's lied to me all these months, I can't believe he would do something like that! It is so cowardly and low. I can't believe he tricked me into liking him! I feel so betrayed . . ." This all went through Hermione's mind in a second. She then let out a small sob of despair. This caused Draco to look up at her with a worried expression on his face. She let out another sob, choking on it, trying to keep it in.  
  
"Hermione what's wrong, are you hurt? What's wrong" He touched her arm, and she backed away from him. "What's wrong I won't hurt you"  
  
"How could you" Hermione began, "Being nice to me for this last month, did you plan to pretend to like me so I would like you in return? So then I would make a complete fool of myself!" She was shouting at him, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
Draco didn't have a clue what she was talking about and said so. She then raged on.  
  
"My dreams! It was you wasn't it? My mysterious dream guy, I know it was you, it all makes sense. Was that all pretend in my – your – our dreams?" Hermione was crying now, "because if it was a have nothing more to say to you. You have been haunting my dreams since September and lying to me!" She broke down on the sofa tears falling down her face. Draco didn't know she had that many tears to cry.  
  
"No, Hermione. It was nothing like that! Somehow our dreams got entwined; I swear I didn't even know I was having these dreams until after the day I got splashed by the potion! And then I didn't even realise it was you I was talking with until after you met up with Andre, it was that night in fact which I found out! You see I would have told you earlier but I had to see if you would like me first, and just to say I have never lied to you, I just couldn't tell you. And I do care about you! Please you have to believe me I didn't mean to hurt you I just couldn't tell you. Until . . ." He stopped and looked down.  
  
"Until what?" Hermione whispered. He still didn't answer. Then he mumbled.  
  
"Until I knew you could like me, and not hate me, I was too embarrassed to admit it but I . . . care for you, I have since the middle of 6th year. I just didn't realise until you fainted on me. And nothing I said or did was pretend you have to believe me!" He sat on the sofa beside her and finally she did believe him. It might be that maybe just knowing that someone out there did care for you, made a spark fly that leapt into flames and kindled something wonderful and new.  
  
"I believe you" She said. His face lighted up! He brought her in for a hug and brought her face up and gently kissed her on the lips. He thought he better not go to far and gave her a nice slow gentle kiss, which she returned. Then they pulled apart. Hermione was leaning with her head on his chest and her arm round his waist and he had his arms around her while leaning his head on hers.  
  
They sat there without moving until Draco got up to move. "No! Hermione whispered, "Stay with me!" She pleaded. So Draco stayed and that was how they were when they woke up in the morning, just holding each other. Draco was the first to stir. He gently kissed the top of Hermione's head and gently turned her around. He then kissed her on the lips, feeling the pressure on her lips she woke up.  
  
"Good morning!" She smiled and tilted her head up to kiss him nice and slow. She then lay back down and then said, "So what are we going to do from here?"  
  
"I don't know I mean we could go out if . . . if you wanted to" He replied hopefully. Hermione squealed, kissed him on the lips and then said, "Does that give you your answer?" He grinned broadly which meant he did.  
  
"Ok, well I need to talk to you tonight I need to tell you something that I forgot to tell you before. Will you meet me here at the end of the day?" He looked deep into her brown eyes waiting for an answer.  
  
"Sure" she replied and off they went to get ready without another word.  
  
The day passed without incident. Harry and Ron were still not talking to her, but she didn't care this time, they had ignored her before especially in their 3rd year when they hadn't talked to her for a month. Hermione was waiting in the common room for Draco and she was still puzzled at about what this whole meeting was about. She went off in her own thoughts until the wall slid open and Draco walked in looking slightly annoyed. He had a stony look on his face and there was a red mark on his cheek.  
  
"Oh, Draco! What happened? Are you ok?" Hermione immediately began to fuss over him. He waved her off.  
  
"It's nothing, I'll tell you later, first of all I need to tell you something urgent, I have not told anyone this and I am only telling you because you might be in danger. Don't worry" He added at the scared look on her face, "I'll protect you!" His expression was no longer stony but he looked at her Hermione with care in his eyes.  
  
"I suppose it all has something to do with Andre Snothyp, I will start from the beginning and tell you the story as well as I can" Draco began, "you see Andre was my best friend, we were inseparable when we were together, he was the same age as me, but he went to Durmstrang, every holiday we would spend it together. He was like a brother. Then at the beginning of our 6th year, before we were going to return back to our schools, there was an accident, we were out in the muggle world, being stupid as usual" He laughed grimly and sadly, and choked back a sob.  
  
"We bumped into a load of drunken men, we had been drinking as well so we were almost drunk, anyway words got exchanged and a fight broke out, you see Andre can be extremely mean when he wants to. Then we got separated, I was trying to fend off all these men, we couldn't use our wands otherwise we would have been in so much trouble, we called out to each other, trying to get back together, but they kept us separated, finally I kicked one of them and managed to get back to him, he was being beaten up because he was the one who said all the words, he looked terrible, a wreck, the last time I saw him was when he was reaching for me then he got knocked to the ground, he didn't move then the guys ran. They had killed him, I went to the place he had fell, but there was no sign of him. He was gone!" Draco then leant back and closed his eyes letting the tears leak out. Hermione but a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"But now I know that he is not dead, he wants revenge, I know it" He looked at Hermione, who was looking at him in a disbelieving sort of way, "He is after me, I have been dreaming about him, he blames me for his 'death', he is trying to kill me, it was he who made the potion explode. I saw his face in the potion, and then so did Dean, there was a whirl of colour and then it exploded" He done it!"  
  
"What does he want with me then?" Hermione asked, "Why would he want to speak to me?" She looked at Draco confused.  
  
"I don't know, but he's trouble, please don't see him again, promise me you won't!" He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes. She nodded in agreement. "I promise" She told him still looking into her eyes. He sighed and smiled, then brought her in for a deep kiss, not getting too passionate, which lasted for well over a minute, finally when they had finished they parted, then Draco suddenly got up and told her to stay there. He went into his room and came out a few minutes later carrying a smallish box. Hermione looked at it in confusion.  
  
Draco sat back down and handed it to her giving her a meaningful look and mouthing the words 'open it'. Hermione looked down at the box and with her hands quivering she undid the wrapping revealing a cream covered box, she then gently pulled the lid off and inside was a necklace. It was silver with a ruby heart and silver wings, the ruby sparkled so brightly and the silver shone. Hermione took it out of its box and looked speechlessly at Draco. What could she say it was beautiful, Draco smiled at her reaction.  
  
"I knew you'd like it, here let me put it on for you" With gentle movement he took the necklace from her hand and fastened it round her neck, when it was secure Draco leaned back to admire at gleaming at her throat.  
  
"Draco, I can't accept this. It is too much! Not that I don't like it" She added hastily, "Why do you want to give it to me?" She asked still stunned.  
  
"Because, it is Valentines Day and it is my gift to you, it wouldn't look right on anybody else, just accept it, I would be offended if you didn't" He replied.  
  
"Fine I accept it, but I will have to give you something in return . . . I know!" Hermione shuffled slowly over to him and when she was right up against him she tilted her head up and kissed him on the lips, he returned it, surprised when she deepened it by opening her mouth and touching his lips with her tongue, he responded and opened his mouth allowing her to enter it, and that was when they had their first true passionate kiss, on Valentines day. Draco's mind was spinning, he had never felt like this with anybody. Sure he had kissed loads of girls before but this was different, this one was full of . . . lust  
  
Hermione then pulled away from him sharply breaking off their kiss. He looked a little confused. "Now, tell me how you got that red mark on your cheek" She sat there waiting for him to answer.  
  
"Oh, that. Well I went to the Slytherin common room, just to see some people and I met Pansy in the hall way, I hadn't spoken to her for ages, and so she started coming onto me, then I remembered she had a tattoo on her leg, of a devil and angel embracing, ("Oh like the prophesy" Hermione said) right . . ." Draco looked a bit stunned that Hermione would automatically think of the prophesy, and without realising it he quickly rubbed his arm. "Well turns out that she had got it a couple of years ago at her uncle's, when they went into the muggle world she had it done at a tattoo parlour. I then said 'thank God!' and she asked why and I said because she was ugly and I would hate for her to be my soul mate! She then slapped me" he ended happily.  
  
"Ok then. Well that explains that. And thanks again for the necklace Draco its lovely" She then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. She got up and reminded him it was time for dinner. They went out of the common room hand in hand, forgetting that they weren't suppose to show that they liked each other.  
  
Luckily there was no one in the corridors at the time, so they made it all the way down to the Great hall without meeting anyone. Only when they were right in front of its doors did they let go of each others hands, then with a quick kiss they went into the great hall, making it look as if they hated each other. Hermione sat down with Harry and Ron, while Draco went to sit with his usual gang.  
  
When Hermione had put all her food on her plate, Harry and Ron began to question her.  
  
"How come we couldn't get into your common room? We spoke the password, it just wouldn't let us in!" Ron told her.  
  
"Yeah!" Harry put in, "we wanted to see if you were all right because" he looked darkly over at the Slytherin table, "we heard Malfoy wanting to meet you there. We were afraid he was going to try and hex or jinx you"  
  
"Oh!" Hermione said quietly, "he just wanted to have a go at me because apparently I had left some of my junk over 'his' side of the common room. Yes, he says we have to have sides" She added at the disbelief on their faces.  
  
Secretly she hated having to make Draco seem so mean and horrible when he wasn't. Harry and Ron asked if she'd like them to hex, him for her. She laughed and made up the excuse that she would rather, Malfoy stayed hex free than Harry and Ron being expelled. They agreed with her and got back to their dinner.  
  
Hermione had finished hers quickly. So, she just sat looking around the Great Hall, looking at the teachers, students, the ceiling (which was dark and speckled with stars). She felt something touch her hand, and looked down to see what it was. It was a note, and it had Draco's writing on it! She opened it eagerly, making sure Harry and Ron couldn't see it. She read;  
  
Dear Hermione,  
  
Meet me outside our common room in 5 minutes! The other Slytherin's saw me writing this letter, I told them that I was sending you an insulting note, so turn slightly and give a hurt look at my table! See you in 5 minutes!  
  
From Draco  
  
Hermione done as Draco said, she turned so Harry and Ron couldn't see her, and gave a deeply hurt look in the direction of the Slytherin table. She could tell it worked because she could her malicious laughter coming from that direction. 5 minutes passed by and she made her excuse that she needed to get some homework done to Harry and Ron. She left the Hall swiftly and hurried to the wall hiding her common room.  
  
She stayed there and waited for Draco to appear. She was waiting for 10 minutes when she felt that he wasn't going to turn up. Then finally he came round the corner and gave her an apologetic look, he told her about how all the Slytherin's had kept delaying him.  
  
"What did you want to meet me for?" She questioned. He smirked and replied in a mischievous way.  
  
"Do I need a reason to meet you?" He asked raising an eyebrow. Hermione smiled back at him.  
  
"I suppose not. I was finished anyway!" He brought her in close and bent his head low.  
  
"Well I did actually want to meet you here for a specific reason. You see I just felt that I couldn't stay away from you much longer, and since it is Valentines Day I would say that gives us a good excuse to keep kissing. So, I am going to kiss you . . ." Before he said 'now' He pulled her even more closer and put his lips on hers, whereupon contact Hermione put her arms round his neck. They were completely in bliss. Hermione felt like she as in heaven. Just being near him made her tingle all over and want to stay with him.  
  
Draco pulled away sharply, Hermione looked at him confused. He cocked his head to one side and listened. Hermione heard it too. Someone was coming round the corner! Hermione and Draco quickly stumbled to the common room door and said the password. Once inside the pushed the door shut and laughed. That had been close. But as Hermione reminded herself going out with a Malfoy would be dangerous and fun!  
  
A/N: I am so, so, so sorry that this took so long to get up! Well there was a mix up and some of my chapters were muddled up, but it is sorted now! Hope you liked it! It might get a bit more dramatic soon!! But I am not going to tell you anything. You will have to find out by reading all my chapters! And reviewing them of course! ( Thank you every one who reviewed! I feel so loved!! Water Demon 


	20. Moons, Stars, Truth and Anger

Moons, stars, Truths and Anger  
  
Hermione and Draco were inseparable when they were together. Literally they were stuck together like glue. When they came in from their last lesson they would sit together on the sofa and do nothing but kiss. Hermione was defiantly in love, but she wasn't sure if Draco felt the same way. Yes, he made her feel special and was there for her, but he had never said it once, he never said I love you. Hermione had thought about saying it many times but decided not to. I mean they hadn't been out for long.  
  
Hermione was just totally infatuated with Draco, she just couldn't get enough of him. They were still sitting together in the same lessons and occasionally Hermione would feel something at the bottom of her leg, and she would look down and see Draco's foot. Usually she would nudge his foot back and look at him, and when he looked back at her, she saw passion in his eyes and he would give her a sexy smile, which he only used when looking at her.  
  
So Hermione and Draco were happy. Harry and Ron were happy. They didn't know of Hermione and Draco's secret relationship, and Hermione was glad about that because she wasn't sure how they would react. Harry and Ron had noticed a change in Hermione and they frequently asked her what was making her so happy, but she would just simply smile at them and talk about something else. Harry and Ron had noticed the necklace at her throat and asked her when she got it and who gave it to her. She shrugged at them and told them that it had appeared on valentines day, but there was no note saying who it was from.  
  
Harry and Ron believed that story and they didn't ask her about it, but they had some suspicions and without telling Hermione they would ask some of the Gryffindor lads if they had sent it. Every one of them truthfully said no, but Harry and Ron thought there was something funny going on but they didn't know what.  
  
Actually, there was something funny going on. Hermione was going out with Draco, which since they were from rival houses meant that their going out was a bit weird. But they didn't care in the slightest and just continued to spend most of their time together. Hermione and Draco were sitting together on a sofa snuggled up together when Hermione asked Draco a question.  
  
"Draco?" Hermione whispered to him as he replied sleepily with a small "hmm- hmm"  
  
"Draco? Do you think that we would ever be able to tell anyone about . . . what we have?" Hermione looked up at him with her large chocolate brown eyes. Draco turned his head to look at her.  
  
"What's brought this on?" He asked, "I thought you were ok with this being a secret?" Hermione nodded at him but sighed.  
  
"Yeah I am ok with it but . . . I just don't like lying to Harry and Ron and making it look like you're this fierce ogre when you're not!" She stared at him and snuggled closer.  
  
"It will be hard but we will be able to tell them sometime! Cheer up, what could you want better than to be sitting here and hugging me?" He smiled at her in his cheeky arrogant way.  
  
"Erm . . . well I can think of a number of things but at the moment . . ." She grabbed the pillow behind her, "I want a pillow fight!" And she whacked him as hard as she could round the head. She sprang up from the sofa and giggled.  
  
"Hermione Granger . . . you are in for it now" He gave a mock glare and tackled her, bringer her to the floor. At which point he sat on top of her with her arms beneath him. She was gasping and he was chuckling.  
  
"Do you want to know what your punishment is?" He asked, a smile playing round his mouth. She shook her head. Mischief shone out from his eyes.  
  
"Miss Hermione Granger you are now sentenced to . . . endless tickling!" At which point his hands leapt to her sides as she began to laugh uncontrollably. Draco knew just where to tickle her and it worked a treat, she was crying with laughter.  
  
"Draco! No . . . stop" She gasped between laughs and gasps. "Draco . . . I mean it stop!! If you don't stop I'll . . . I'll"  
  
"You'll what?" He cut in, he had stopped tickling her and looked at her in a mischievous way.  
  
"I'll never kiss you again!" She smiled at him triumphantly as he bent his head down so they were forehead to forehead.  
  
"I'll kiss you instead" He laughed at her and she looked at him.  
  
"I'll bite you!" And she made to bite his nose. He jumped off her in mock terror and backed away to the other side of the room.  
  
"Ok, down girl!" He said in a mock frightened voice. She advanced on him and then when she was just a few centimetres away he jumped back on to the sofa and then held up his hand in peace and conjured a white handkerchief to wave around.  
  
She sighed and gave in. She settled back down onto the sofa and they snuggled up together once more. Her questions completely forgotten.  
  
Hermione and Draco had been going out for a couple of weeks and they were pleased with themselves that no one had noticed. Even though in lessons they slipped and almost called each other by their first names. Even potions was becoming bearable, well for Hermione anyway since she had Draco, but the other Gryffindor's weren't as happy. Snape was still as evil and bad tempered as ever and was picking on Harry and Ron more than normal.  
  
Hermione was being told by Harry and Ron how evil Snape was and he wasn't any nicer even when it was the end of a school week and (as they kept telling her) Friday was the best day of the week. They were just telling her what they would like to do to him if he wasn't a teacher, when Draco came over. He gave Harry and Ron a cold glare and his gaze softened on Hermione for a second.  
  
"Granger just so you know" He drawled. "You have to meet me outside MY common room to discuss our potions essay and Granger be there on time in five minutes" He said it all rather stiffly as it was becoming harder to act nasty to Hermione. At least he hadn't called her by her first name. She nodded her head in acknowledgement and turned back to talking to Harry and Ron ignoring him, but she gave him a quick half smile, to show that she knew he was acting. He turned on his heel and left.  
  
"Ok what was that about?" Harry asked, gazing at Hermione.  
  
"What was what about?" She replied confused, then Ron chipped in: "You know that thing with Malfoy! Was it just me or did he seem less insulting?" Hermione chuckled weakly.  
  
"No just your imagination Ron, he still gave you that cold glare he reserves just for you." Hermione sighed, "Anyway I guess I better be going, I don't want to be late for Malfoy's exciting news about the essay!" She said in sarcasm.  
  
"Ok. Remember if he hurts or insults you, we will get him back!" Harry added and they both waved as Hermione walked down the corridor and to her common room.  
  
She arrived just outside of the portrait and as usual he wasn't there, so she waited for him to show. Then she decided that she would wait inside, so she turned to the wall and was about to speak the password but at that moment a hand fell on to her mouth and an arm slunk round her waist! She screamed and was about to bite the hand until she caught a glimpse of white blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. She stopped screaming and she let herself be spun around so she could gaze into the eyes of her attacker.  
  
There he was an eyebrow raised, an amusing smile playing on his lips and his eyes dancing with happiness. His hands still lingered on her mouth and waist. Draco put his finger to his lips and began to creep along the corridor his hand now in Hermione's. She was about to ask where they were going until they stopped in front of a wall. She recognised it was the wall where the room of requirement appeared and looked quizzically at Draco.  
  
He gave her a mischievous grin and paced back and forth until a door appeared then with a quick look around he held out his hand to her and whispered "Do you trust me?" She nodded and he went behind her and put his hands over her eyes. She let him steer her and she heard a door being opened and she felt his breath on her hair and how gentle he was being.  
  
"Don't look!" He said, "I'm going to remove my hands but don't look!" Hermione nodded and felt him move away. She heard a door closing and spoke out. "Draco? Are you still here?" She asked panicking slightly. "I'm here" He whispered and took hold of her hands.  
  
"Now open your eyes!" He whispered. And she did. What a sight met her eyes. She was standing on a hillside overlooking the forbidden forest and a beautiful full moon was out bathing everything in a silvery light. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and she could see all the stars.  
  
She spun around to Draco, breathless from the view and she smiled at him and finally she managed to say "Draco . . . you done this all for me?" he nodded and she threw herself to him, wrapping him up in a warm embrace and kissing him all over his face. She started to cry.  
  
"Hey? What's wrong? I . . . I thought you'd like it!" Draco told her stunned.  
  
"I do! I love it, that's why I am crying, it is just so romantic!" She hugged and kissed him again. She pulled back "Just one question though, how are we here and how come it is all dark and stuff when it's like just gone 4:00pm?"  
  
"I don't know I just seem to be able to do stuff like this, it's going to be just like this tonight . . . I just hurried things along a bit in my requirement for the room, and anyway, it would be giving away my secret if I told you everything!" He smiled at her gleefully and took her hand and led her to a little bench that quickly appeared, where they sat together and watched the bright full moon.  
  
"Look! This is the first full moon of this month. It's supposed to be the moon of romance. I knew we had to look at this moon together. I care about you so much! It's my way of showing you how much I care for you!" Draco told her turning to look at her with (if he knew it) love and care in his eyes.  
  
"Oh Draco thank you so much this is just so nice! No one has ever done anything like this for me before! How did you know the moon and the stars were my favourite things?" He smiled at her and kissed her hair and just murmured that he knew these things, but if she was able to see his face she would have seen how glad he was that she had loved his little surprise.  
  
They sat there for a little longer just leaning on each other, and keeping one another warm, until Hermione remembered that she was supposed to be meeting Harry and Ron for dinner. She really hated to go but if she was gone to long then they would automatically think of Draco had done something to her and she would hate it if they thought of hurting him. They slowly got up and walked hand in hand to the door that had remained there and with a final passionate kiss they stepped through the door and into Hogwarts. They stood and watched the door fade and then began a slow walk back to their common room.  
  
When they finally got to the wall Hermione was about to say the password when Draco took hold of her arm and looked at her in a pleading way. She stopped and looked at him, while he brought her into his embrace and where his lips made a light contact with hers. So light that Hermione could barely feel it but still all his emotion was there and she shivered at the true passion of the kiss.  
  
They deepened it and clung to each other as if something bad would happen if they let go. Hermione didn't know why he was being so emotional but she didn't care she was to wrapped up in the heat of the moment, she could feel all of his emotion on his lips and he was even more gentle and tender than what he was like underneath the moon, he seemed venerable some how as if his emotions were taking control of him and he couldn't stop it.  
  
Hermione was a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to say what his eyes showed and his kisses meant, he couldn't say he loved her. And for the time being that was ok for Hermione as his emotions were enough. She was just so moved from the kiss that she started to feel breathless and the room seemed to be spinning, she could hear fireworks going off and her whole body was tingling with his touches as he stroked her hair and as she stroked his neck. The kiss was lasting forever and they didn't seem to be able to pull apart it just kept going on and on. They were kissing harsher now as the passion started leading them, Draco was moving his hands more frantically and he started to go up her shirt slightly, but Hermione didn't care she wanted what ever would happen next.  
  
Since they were so involved with each other they did not hear or notice two people walk round the corner and stop in shock at the scene before them. They did not know anyone was there until they spoke out.  
  
"Hermione!? What are you doing . . ? Malfoy . . . ?Get off her you filthy ferret!" Hermione suddenly felt Draco being yanked away from her. She opened her eyes and stood shocked at what had just happened. She was in complete bliss and now her arms were empty. Harry and Ron were now on top of Draco and punching every bit of him they could get in contact with. His wand was on the floor out of his reach, and his arms were pinned underneath his back. He couldn't defend himself!  
  
"NOOOOOO!!!" Hermione screamed. "Get off him . . . I SAID GET OFF HIM! . . . Draco!!!" Harry and Ron did not hear her or notice her in any way. Malfoy was looking slightly bad now, his face was beginning to bruise and he was no longer making sounds of pain he seemed to be losing consciousness, Hermione knew she needed to do something. She pulled out her wand and cried "Impedimenta" She did the freezing charm and immediately Harry and Ron were motionless. Hermione could see their eyes open in surprise. She slowly walked towards them and pulled them both off Draco, where they lay motionless on the floor looking at her with hurt eyes. Hermione bent over Draco and examined him. She cast a simple healing spell on him and all of his bruises vanished. He opened his eyes and looked at her and smiled his gratitude she smiled back while helping him so sit up she turned around to face Harry and Ron who were able to move again. Draco placed a protective hand on her shoulder which she grasped for confidence. They just looked at her.  
  
"Say something" She urged. They looked at her in disgust and asked her the obvious question.  
  
"Are you seeing Malfoy?" Ron hissed, venom and anger filling his words.  
  
"I am not 'seeing Malfoy'. I am going out with Draco!" They looked at her stunned.  
  
"So that's why you didn't want us in your common room or hexing him. All those times you said that he wouldn't allow us in there . . . it was you who didn't want us in there! We have nothing to say to you. No friend of ours would 'go out with' our sworn enemy" Harry told her quietly, anger filling his face.  
  
"You are no longer our friend . . . we have no friend called Hermione Granger . . . Do not expect to have any sort of contact with us" Ron hissed in anger speaking each word slowly. They both turned away, not looking back. As they did so Hermione put her face in her hands and cried. Draco put his arm round her for comfort. Hermione Granger had just lost the two only true friends she had had since their first year. The Dream Team were no more!  
  
A/N: First of all I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while! My computer keeps acting weird and well it's hard for me to get it up!! I have finally written the mushiest chapter in my story so far! So what did you think? Well just review and tell me. I can't believe I've written 20 chappies!! I never thought that I would write this much when I first started this story! This may be bad news, it may be good news in a way buuuuuuttt . . . this story is drawing to a close! It might be finished in the next 5 or so chapters! I hope you think that this is a good story and who knows perhaps I'll make it to 100 reviews!!! Well Thank you for reading and reviewing luv Water Demon 


	21. Crashing down

Crashing Down

It was two weeks to the day that Ron and Harry had stopped talking to Hermione. They showed no sign of taking her back, even though they no longer had her notes to copy from, or they had no help on their homework. Hermione wouldn't have minded, she had been outcast so many times before without seeing any hope of their friendship coming together again. But this time it was worse. Harry and Ron had told all their Gryffindor friends about what Hermione had done. They now turned and looked at her as if she was something really unpleasant, other times everyone just ignored her. Even Ginny her best friend had abandoned her. First it had started with taunting, but she didn't mind. Now though they were being thoroughly nasty to her, hissing and spitting every time she went near anyone, chucking small things at her, they were being so nasty!

Now Hermione often cried when she was on her own. She was forced to sit on her own, or with Draco but that didn't help as they had to make it look like they weren't friends (just to keep up appearances with the rest of the houses, as they had no clue what was going on and curiously the Gryffindor's hadn't told them). Draco was really supporting to Hermione, he listened to her, comforted her, but she still felt bad. She was even starting to get lower marks in class, as she was so depressed and upset, she couldn't concentrate and every one was so mean.

Finally after what seemed to be the longest week in her life, it was Friday. Now she could take refuge in her common room and not face anyone. Draco wasn't in the common room yet, so Hermione started reading her book again. She had barely read a page when she remembered that she had left her homework in the transfiguration room. She sighed and went down to get it. When she got there she found the door open as she expected. She looked at the place where she was last sitting and sure enough there was her homework. She let out a sigh of relief and went to get it. After receiving it she went to head out the door, but her way was barred by the two people she least wanted to meet. Harry and Ron. They just stared at her unpleasantly and continued to bar her way.

"Can you move, please I want to get passed" Hermione said timidly.

"Oh! Where are you going then? Off to have a quick snog with Ferret Boy? I suppose it was _him _who gave you that necklace?" Ron sneered. His eyes travelled to her throat where the ruby glittered there.

"Yes, and would it matter who I was seeing, and _who_ gave me the necklace?" She replied, looking so confused how her best friends could do this to her.

"Well _Granger_, we don't care what you do, because Ferret Boy is the only person you're worthy of _Traitor_" Ron spat.

At this point Hermione burst into tears and ducked under their arms and ran all the way to the floor of her common room, knocking people out the way as she ran. Once up the stairs she forced away her tears, and attempted to control herself. However, she broke down again once more. She fumbled in her robe pocket for a tissue but instead pulled out a small vial. She realised what it was, her calming potion. She steadied her hand and uncorked the bottle and bought it slowly to her lips, remembering what happened if she took to much. She tilted back her head ready to let a few drops fall . . . WHAM!

Someone knocked into her from behind, her hand jerked, spilling half the potion down her throat, she swallowed with surprise and just had enough time to see who had hit her. It was Draco. She looked at him surprised as her knees began to shake and give way. He smiled at her unaware of what was happening.

"Hiya! Sorry about that, some prat bashed into me! I didn't see who it was, anyway . . . Hermione . . . Hermione? What's wrong? Why . . . why can't you stand? Hermione!" Draco ran towards her just before she hit the floor. Her heart beat was beginning to slow and her breathing became slower and deeper.

"Hermione! What . . ? What . . ? What's wrong with you?" Draco asked anxiously. Hermione lifted her hand towards him, her eyelids slowly closing as she began to relax. He took from her, her vial and in her neat writing was the label: _Calming potion._

"Oh, no! Hermione! Come on Hermione talk to me, keep talking to me, I'll get you to the hospital wing" He lifted her gently in his arms and began shaking her, to try and keep her awake, she mumbled to him as he went as quick as he could to the hospital wing.

Hermione kept thinking how stupid this all was and she knew she should be more worried about the fact that she had drunk to much potion . . . but she couldn't be bothered, it was to much hassle! Why was Draco shaking her and urging her to talk? She just wanted to sleep, she tried to tell him to stop shaking her because she was so tired but all she could do was mumble, she just wanted the shaking to stop and for everything to go back the way it was.

Just as Draco smashed through the doors to the hospital wing Hermione's head drooped onto his chest. He panicked and called to Madam Pomfrey at the top of his lungs. She came bustling out of her office.

"What is it dear?" She asked Draco, "has the fainting flu got her too?" Draco shook his head in alarm. He knew the fainting flu had been going around but he thought it had gone in February.

"No, no nothing like that. She – I – Hold on. I got pushed into her while she was trying to take a potion, I knew she didn't mean for this to happen and well - . . . she was taking a calming potion!" He informed her.

Her eyes widened and she screeched "Why didn't you tell me this as soon as you came in, we have been wasting time, quickly put her on the bed, that's it. Now how much did she drink" Draco handed her the bottle, "Goodness me that's as good as half! Right, now, go fetch Professor Sprout, I need her! Go! Now!"

Without being told again, he went in search of Professor Sprout. He thought of the obvious place and went to the green houses. As he got out of the doors he saw Potter and Weasley coming back up to the castle, it looked like they had just been visiting Hagrid. Draco knew that he would have to almost pass by them but he didn't care. He ran straight by them, ignoring their curious looks, and at last got to the green houses. He saw Potter and Weasley staring at him but he didn't pay attention to them. He needed to save Hermione! He saw one of the green house door open and sprinted inside.

"Professor Sprout?" he called. He heard a faint 'yes' coming from the back of the green house. He wandered through and finally saw her with her arms in a compost heap.

"Professor, madam Pomfrey needs you . . . now! She sent me to get you" Draco gasped.

"Need me? Why does she need me?" She asked shooting Draco a puzzled look. Draco quickly told her what had happened and she came at once, washing her arms with a cleaning spell. Just as the got in through the doors of the castle she turned to him.

"Who is it?" She asked. Draco had this wild notion that depending on who it was, she would see if they were worth saving. He shook himself and remembered that she was a teacher. It was probably his anxiety taking over.

"Hermione Granger, Professor" She nodded and they continued going faster.

Just outside the front doors two people heard this and gasped in alarm.

It was Sunday and Draco was to be found in the hospital wing, sitting in a chair and watching a figure on a bed. It was of course Hermione. Draco had not moved from his spot since he had brought Professor Sprout to Madam Pomfrey. He just continued to stare at Hermione, willing her to wake up. When he slept, he did not go to her in his dreams, as they had often done at night. His dreams remained blank and untroubled. He just woke up every morning looking at Hermione and losing just a little more hope.

Madam Pomfrey had told him that if she did not wake up by Monday morning then that was it, she would be moved to St. Mungo's hospital. Where she would stay until they found a cure. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout had given Hermione her potion and said if she didn't wake up within three days then there was nothing they could do.

Draco prayed for her every night, wishing there was something he could do, apart from talk to her, but she couldn't hear him. Still he rambled on and on, telling her how she would have to wake up because then there would be no one to nag him or snuggle up to him, and of course if she was still asleep then she would no longer be Head Girl. He laughed silently to himself at what Hermione would do if she found out she had been taken over as Head Girl. His laugh turned into a cough which turned into tears and he sat weeping at her side. Grasping her hand, unable to tell her how he truly felt, but trying his best to explain it.

Harry and Ron had visited Friday night. Seeing their once best friend lying on a bed looking as if she was dead, seemed to affect them quite a lot, they realised how horrible they had been to her, and seeing that Draco was by her side made them think that he couldn't be that bad. But they still didn't trust him. They sat and told Hermione how sorry they were, not sure if she could hear them, but hoping that she could. After that Draco was always on his own there, and Sunday night was no different. He was hoping and praying harder than ever before he went to sleep and kissed Hermione's hand before he fell into a deep slumber.

"_I see it you know. . . even if you don't" A voice spoke out to Draco from the darkness. He recognised the voice at once. And spoke back._

"_Come out and show yourself . . . Andre!" he yelled. Andre suddenly materialized next to him._

"_I see it, even if you don't" He repeated, his eyes shining with glee. _

"_What's that?" Malfoy spat. His eyes showing hatred. Draco just couldn't believe that Andre had been alive for the past year._

"_I see what you treasure the most!" He said in a sing-song voice. His lips turned upwards in a vicious smile. Draco looked confused for a moment and then a look of fear flitted across his face. He mastered it and replied coldly._

"_I don't know what you mean" He looked at his former best friend, not recognising him, only seeing a cruel enemy._

"_Oh, yes you do. You know what I mean. What would she say if she knew what you had just denied" An image of Hermione lying in her bed appeared beside them. Andre walked over to it and reached out his hand and stroked her face and hair. "You know this brings back memories, I stood over her bed and told her I was going to kill Dean soon, of course I didn't say his name . . . but well he's dead now!" His eyes turned back to Draco._

"_Why did you kill Dean? It_ was_ you wasn't it?" Draco asked him._

"_Yes it was me, but I didn't kill him personally but well I _had_ to kill him, otherwise, you and her would never know what you felt for one another, and then my plan would never work" He told him. Draco was about to speak but Andre cut him off._

"_She really does love you, you know. I see it in her dreams, the way she looks at you. She is hopelessly in love" Andre fluttered his eyelashes as he said it imitating a love struck girl._

_Draco stepped back shaking his head. "No" he replied. He looked at Andre and knew Andre knew he was lying._

"_How do you think I know this? Think. Your dreams Draco. Who made you have them? I did. I cast a spell on you to show me the thing you treasure most and your hearts desire. It is _**her**_ Draco. Even if you didn't realise it, I knew. But then you started to remember, so did she, until you finally figured it out." His voice was full of triumph. He leant close to Draco and whispered, "I will kill her and let you know what real pain feels like you _**deserter**_, I'll make you pay for leaving me to die, and I know how!"_ Draco's eyes widened and suddenly he was awake.

Draco was breathing hard as he looked around the room. Hermione was still safe in her bed. There was a white light shining through the window, Draco looked up and saw the half moon and the stars shining brightly. He felt a pang of sadness as he remembered that Hermione loved the stars and the moon and the surprise he gave her and how happy she looked. He looked at her, so peaceful on the bed. The moonshine bathing her in silver light giving her an unearthly beautiful look. Her chest hardly moved when she was breathing, she looked dead. He hung his head, knowing what he had to do, but not wanting to do it. Slowly he leant back on his chair and fell asleep again.

This time he woke up and sunlight was streaming in through the window. He looked up expectantly at Hermione but still she slept with her chest hardly moving, he hung his head. She wasn't going to wake up and it was all his fault. So that was what Andre's plan was. He showed Draco what he cared about and now he was going to kill Hermione to get back at him, Andre was probably the person who bashed into him, making her spill the potion, Andre had succeeded in his plan then.

Madam Pomfrey came over and was looking at Draco with sadness in her eyes. She told him that Hermione would have to be moved now since she had not woken up and it was the third day. Draco leaned over her body protectively and told Madam Pomfrey to wait a little longer. She obliged and went back into her office.

Draco sat there and watched Hermione looking for a sign to show she was going to wake. But she didn't and Madam Pomfrey came back, telling him to move. Draco made the excuse that Harry and Ron should be able to say bye to her and Madam Pomfrey again agreed and sent what looked like a paper bird through the ceiling to wherever Harry and Ron were.

They came down 5 minutes later and Draco filled them in on what was going to happen. All of them looked down at Hermione and all willed her to wake. Draco felt tears coming to his eyes and looked up and saw Harry and Ron were the same. One by one they each held her hand and tried not to cry as their best friend lay as if dead. They didn't know when they were going to see her again.

Everyone stood back and Madam Pomfrey came forward and was about to send Hermione to St. Mungo's when Hermione's eyelids fluttered.

Surprised she looked down and saw that she was beginning to stir, her chest was moving more rapidly and her breathing becoming quicker. Harry, Ron and Draco sprang back to her side, looking, as she stirred fretfully her eyelids still fluttering. She cried out, everyone heard what she said, she had cried out "Draco".

Draco came forward and grabbed her hand as she opened her eyes! Hermione was awake!

A/N: Sorry I didn't update sooner, I was on holiday and there was no computer so I couldn't update, but here it is now. What do you think! I'm glad that I've finally finished this chappie now! I wanted to make it shorter but I didn't know how to break it up and then I thought you all deserve a long chapter and I'm blabbering on now! And well what more can I say then thank you all those who have reviewed and well please review this chappie!!! I'll try and get these chappie's coming more regularly! Luv Water Demon


	22. Sleeping, Waking and Plans

Sleeping, waking and plans

Hermione opened her eyes and saw someone's head swimming in and out of focus. Someone was holding her hand, she could feel the pressure. Who could that be? She thought. What had happened? Where was she? She felt the rough blanket on her arm and recognised it as the hospital wing bedding! What was she doing there again? She pondered.

Then she remembered! She had taken a potion . . . the calming potion and well . . . hadn't someone bashed into her? Yes! It was Draco, someone had pushed into him and . . . he had gone into her! That was it. Now why was she taking the potion? Oh yeah . . . she had had a rough day with Harry and Ron.

She looked up and the face came into focus. It was Draco! She sighed with relief and pulled his hand towards her reaching with the other arm as she did so and she enveloped him in a hug. Tears sprung to her eyes as she murmured to him.

"I'm so glad you're here! You stayed with me!" She leant back and smiled at him, which he returned. She looked at him with love in her eyes and whether Draco knew it or not but he was looking exactly the same back at her. He reached down and stroked her cheek.

"As if I'd be anywhere else" He said showing how he felt to everyone in the room. Hermione finally looked around and saw that she had an audience. Madam Pomfrey was looking at her with a funny smile on her face and then she went into her office. Harry and Ron were looking at her and Draco open mouthed at the love that they were showing to each other. Hermione's smile died on her lips as she looked at both of them.

She couldn't remember them as the friends she had known for 7 years, all she could see was the nasty looks they threw at her and the way they behaved. It was their fault she was where she was. She felt her eyes fill with tears and overflow as she turned her head away from them.

"Hermione . . ." Ron started forward, Harry moved closer as well.

"NO! Get . . get out I don't want to see you! Go away! It's _your_ fault I'm here! Go away I don't want to see you!" Her tears came more fiercely and her voice was filled with choked sobs as she turned towards Draco. When they hadn't moved she pleaded to him. "Draco! Please make them get out . . . make them go away! I don't want them here!" She yelled and buried her head into his shoulder as he was sitting beside her.

All three boys were shocked at her outburst and Draco looked up at them and spoke almost apologetically "You heard her, do what she wants, get out of here" Harry and Ron took one last look at their once best friend and left the hospital wing with pained looks on the faces.

"Shhh! They're gone now love" Draco said. He lifted up her chin and looked her in the eyes, wiping away her tears with his finger. "I'm here don't worry" With that Hermione calmed down and laid her head on his chest getting her breathing back to normal.

"I had such horrible dreams!" She said, she looked up at him and continued. "They were all about you and how . . . well . . . how you didn't like me anymore and you were saying such horrible things and then you kept leaving me! You can't leave me Draco! You won't will you?"

He looked down at her and remembered Andre's threat. "Of course I won't . . . I care about you" He smiled at her and she smiled back looking content.

It was Monday night and Hermione had been seen by Professor Dumbledore and he had talked to her about what had happened making sure that it was all an accident. He had stayed and chatted to her and then he had left making sure that Madam Pomfrey was to give her loads of chocolate. Madam Pomfrey had told her she was alright but she would have to stay for another week for observation since they had no idea if she would slip back into a coma like state again if she slept. Hermione had insisted that Draco sleep in the hospital wing with her and she had said yes. Hermione was going to sleep again and Draco was glad to see she was breathing normally. He dreaded going to sleep though, but after a while he too dropped off.

_"Ahhhh. How nice it is to see you again" Andre's voice spoke put to him. Draco span around and came face to face with his old friend._

_"Nice? You call this nice? I hate you" Draco spat, his anger filling his words with hatred. "Why did you do it? Huh? You made me think she was going to die! You are so sick!" Draco glared at him with hatred._

_"What? Oh yes. You see I am only preparing you for what is going to happen. It is going to be because of you. She is going to die because of you. You will be the one to kill her . . I'm just going to be there to watch it, or perhaps I will kill her myself. Either way it _will_ be your fault !" Andre sneered at Draco, silently laughing at the chaos he was making. _

"_No I won't be responsible for killing her! I will never harm her!" Draco looked at him in disgust wondering how he could ever have thought of him as a friend._

_"You will never harm her? Hmm . . . you already have!" Andre laughed at the confusion on Draco's face, loving every second. "Don't you remember? Of course you don't. I made you forget! I made everyone forget what they saw. Think back. You had just had a dream . . . no . . . a nightmare about me and she came out to you. You turned around and started to _strangle_ her, until her little friends intervened. You left marks, big bruisers on her slender neck, but I had to make everyone forget so you two would forget it and then you two would get together. Because how would my plan work if you two didn't go out . . .? Anyway enough of the past lets look at the now!"_

_Draco stared at Andre not believing what he had just heard. But then he remembered. What he said was true. He had been in a weird mood that night and then . . . he couldn't remember. Yes it would make sense if it was Andre._

_"Why are you going to so much trouble?" Draco spoke out._

_"Because I have to have revenge on you. You left me to die. See_ my _revenge is always perfect!" He grinned an arrogant way. "You see, you still haven't figured everything out yet. The worst is yet to come and you will be the cause of it, you will see!"_

_"But, why was a nasty to her then? If I was supposed to go out with her, why was I nasty to her?" Draco asked confused at how he was nasty and nice at the same time._

_"Ahh, you see I am nasty and well I sort of lived it through you and then I realised that I had to stop it otherwise she would hate you. So I did and your sensitive side came through!" Andre sneered at the word sensitive. "You had changed so much since when I was with you, I know your changing because you don't want to become your father, and well it was hard to grasp the fact that you weren't evil minded anymore. First of all I was controlling Harry and Ron to try and kill her, then I realised that if I was to get my revenge she would be better off alive, other wise you wouldn't know you . . . dare I say it? L O V E D her!" Andre whispered, pleased at the affect of the word and lengthening it to sound even more horrible. "So any way that explains everything that has been happening to you and her for the past couple of months"_

_"Why are you telling me all this?" Draco asked. He was confused. Why would Andre be telling him all this? He got his answer with Andre's next reply._

_"Because I want you to know what I am going to do and know that you have no possible way to stop it! And as much as want to carry on this riveting conversation, I have things to do . . . murder to plan and well I must be getting on with it! See you soon Draco!"_

Draco woke with a start. Sunlight was streaming through the windows and Hermione was up eating her breakfast. He looked around making sure everything was normal and that everyone was ok. His eyes went back to Hermione, she was just sitting there eating her breakfast unaware that he had woken up. She looked so innocent. And he was supposed to be killing her? It just didn't fit. He couldn't do it . . . he wouldn't do it! Finally she looked around and saw he was awake. She smiled a warm smile at him and she squeezed his hand.

"Draco I . . . I . . . I want to thank you so much for staying with me! I heard everything you said and well I feel exactly the same for you! You saved my life you know." Draco looked up at her sharply, she continued. "Yes you saved my life. If you hadn't have got me to Madam Pomfrey as quick as you did I would have been dead. She told me!" She smiled at him unaware of what he was really thinking.

"You know I wouldn't have done anything less" He replied, trying to act normal. Why did her little speech remind him of something? He almost had it but she spoke again.

"You know I couldn't imagine my life without you now! You have totally turned my life upside down and I love it! You make me feel . . . I don't know . . . no-one has made me feel like this. You treat me for me and not just because I'm smart and you need homework off me!" She looked at him with love in her eyes and Draco had a feeling where her speech was going. He knew he had to change the subject as quickly as possible but he didn't know why.

"What are you going to say to Harry and Ron? They do care you know even though they were so nasty to you before. It was just their way with dealing with change. I think you should forgive them. You heard what they said to you when you were asleep right?" Hermione nodded and Draco went on. "Yes, I thought you did. You need your best friends back because as much as I am a good substitute I am nowhere near as good as Harry and Ron" He gave her a smile to show that he accepted the way her and Harry and Ron's relationship was. Hermione smiled at him, so happy that he understood her and cared about her feelings. She nodded and he got up and kissed her forehead.

"Ok I'll go get them now. No doubt they'll love the excuse to miss some of their lesson. I'll just tell the professor it is an emergency!" He gave her a love filled smile and gave her a quick kiss before he headed out of the hospital wing. What he really needed was time to think. He was going to get Harry and Ron but not right that minute. He decided to wander first.

He figured out that somehow he was going to kill Hermione and he didn't want that to happen. He carried on thinking about what he was going to do. He knew now but he didn't want to do it. That's why he wanted her to make up with Harry and Ron. To save her he would have to hurt her. If he wasn't around her then he couldn't possibly be responsible for killing her. Harry and Ron would be there to comfort her but he wouldn't. He loved her so much. He could admit that now. He knew he did and there was no way to fight it. He loved her and cared for her so much he would have to let her go. It was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done but he would have to do it. He prayed that he would be able to be with her one last time before he broke her heart.

With a bowed head he went to find Harry and Ron. He found them in divination. They left the class gleefully, almost skipping down the stairs in delight of not having to be stuck in the tower. They asked Malfoy why they had to come out of their lessons, and what the emergency was. They grew panicky and asked if Hermione was ill again. Draco shook his head and laughed, and replied that no, she wasn't in any immediate danger she just wanted to see them. They both breathed a sigh of relief and went on more happily.

When they entered the hospital wing, Hermione was sitting up in her bed reading. She looked up when they came in and gave Draco a smile while glancing nervously at Harry and Ron. She waited until they sat in the chairs around her bed, she took a deep breath and looked Harry and Ron straight in the face.

"I wanted you to come here so I could talk to you" Hermione looked at both of them seriously. "Don't interrupt!" She added when they both opened their mouths.

"You were extremely horrible to me and I can't see you as the friends who I have had since the beginning of school. BUT . . ." Hermione said as they both opened their mouths again. "Draco talked to me about it and he made me realise why you did it. I know that you do care about me and that you were angry and everything because I went behind your back. I think you could have given me a chance then and at least acted more mature but hey . . ." She smiled slightly. "I know that you're boys and you're not capable of being mature!" All three lads looked at her with open mouths not sure whether to take it as an insult or not. Hermione started laughing and pulled them both towards her in a hug. Harry and Ron started laughing too.

"Well, if you had told us in the beginning what was happening perhaps we would of react differently!" Harry said seriously.

"Yeah! We didn't want our ickle Hermione getting hurt!" Ron said in a mock baby voice. Hermione laughed and made them promise not to do it to her again. They both promised and everything was back they way it always was. And just to break the mood Ron asked Hermione the fatal question: "Can I copy your homework?" Harry and Hermione both looked at him. "I'm kidding!" He laughed. Hermione looked around and found that Draco had gone!

Draco quietly slipped out of the hospital wing. His plan had worked, she was friends with Harry and Ron again. He sighed and went back to his room. When he got inside the common room, he went and lounged on the sofa and he was reminded of Hermione and how they had had their pillow fight and he had lost count the amount of times they had snuggled up together there. He got up and went moodily into his room. Soon he was going to do the hardest thing in his life.

Harry and Ron had gone, leaving Hermione on her own. Draco was still away somewhere. She slumped back on her pillows and stared out of the window and looked up at the cloudy sky. She sighed again. She was restless. She felt bored and was so tired of just staying her bed. She needed Draco back. Well she would just have to look for him.

Making sure Madam Pomfrey was still in her office Hermione crept out of her bed and started to get out of her night dress she was given for staying at the hospital wing. She grabbed her school clothes from the back of one of the chairs and began to put them on. There was a mirror by the side of her bed and just as she turned around she noticed something on her shoulder blade. She turned around so she could see it clearly in the mirror, there was no doubt about it . . . there was something on her shoulder. It was a drawing, but not just any drawing. As Hermione's eyes widened in surprise and fear she recognised the drawing . . . it was a symbol . . . a devil and an angel embracing . . . it was the sign of the Prophesy!

A/N: ooooooh! Things are sorta coming together!! I never know what to say in these authors notes . . . apart from a mega big thanks to my reviewers. I would have never made it through this story without you! sniffles at the thought. IT IS YOU, THE REVIEWS, WICH MAKES THIS STORY WORTH WRITING!! Just wanted to write this big so you know how grateful I am! Oh well please, please review! It's my wish to get up to 100 reviews! I will TRY to update soon! Luv Water Demon!


	23. Betrayal

A/N: First things first I am sooooooooooooo sorry that this has taken ages to get up. I have been stuggling with all my school work and I have only just managed to keep on top of it!!! (I will go on my hands and knees and beg for forgiveness if that's what it takes.

Second: I am so sorry if this story is confusing. The paragraphs keep bunching together and the keeps disappearing. I am sorry if it is confusing but I can't help it. You'll have to work it out. Sorry!!!!!

Thirdly: The reason why they are so lovey dovey is well like that song you know :'don't know what you got till it's gone.' It's a lot like that. Draco realised how much he cared for her when he thought she was lost so he showed his feelings more. Did this sort out the confusion? If it did please tell me

Betrayal

Hermione looked in horror at the tattoo marking. She heard Madam Pomfrey clattering around in her office and looked round just in time to see her open her office door. Hermione quickly pulled her night dress on again and sped back to her bed. Madam Pomfrey was looking down at some papers and did not see Hermione jump back into her covers. She looked up and smiled at Hermione, and Hermione still panting a little, smiled back.

"Now, seeing how you slept last night I think that we only need to keep you for one more night" Madam Pomfrey told Hermione. Hermione laughed and asked if Madam Pomfrey was kidding. She smiled and said no. Hermione laughed again and felt much happier. Now she could spend more time with Draco. That was a thought . . . where was Draco? With him in mind Hermione completely forgot about her tattoo.

Draco was lying on his bed feeling very moody and frustrated. He didn't want to hurt her . . . she _was_ the most precious thing to him. And if he did believe in soul mates and things then he was sure that Hermione would be his. But if it meant she was safe from Andre then, he would do it. He would save her. He wasn't going to be the one to kill her! He pummelled his pillow angrily. He sighed and decided to make the best of what time they had left together. It was going to be the best thing he had ever done . . . to make up for the worst thing he was about to do.

He got up and left for the hospital wing, dragging his feet all the way. Just as he walked through the doors though he straightened himself out and made sure he looked happy, and, with a ready excuse for why he went, he went to Hermione.

"Draco! Where have you been? I mean . . . not to sound nagging, but 1 minute you were here and the next you weren't!" Hermione told him.

"Oh, sorry love! Didn't mean to scare you. It's just it seemed quite an emotional moment and I decided that I should just leave you to it! I didn't know how long Harry and Ron were going to be here so I stayed away until I thought I'd have you to myself!" He explained and sat down with her on her bed.

"That's okay!" Hermione said as she snuggled into his shoulder. Draco sighed and decided to make the most of this contact he was going to have with her, he pulled her closer and buried his face in her hair. He closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing else apart from what was going on at that very moment.

"Draco?" Hermione whispered. He murmured a faint 'yes', and Hermione carried on in great excitement. "Guess what! You'll never guess what! Madam Pomfrey said that I can leave tomorrow as long as I sleep well tonight. I'll be back in my own room tomorrow!"

"That's great!" Draco said. At least then he would be able to spend some proper time with her then, no more hanging around the hospital wing. Draco looked at his watch it was 2:00pm. He didn't really want to stay in the hospital wing. Maybe he could persuade Madam Pomfrey that Hermione could go outside for a bit. It was worth a shot.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Draco called. "Madam Pomfrey?" She came out of her office a moment later.

"Oh, here again are you?" She exclaimed. "Well then. What do you want?" She asked.

"Well . . . I was wondering . . ." Draco began. "I was wondering if perhaps since you've taken such good care of Hermione and that she's so much better if she could . . . come outside with me for a bit?" Draco asked holding his breath.

Madam Pomfrey looked flattered at Draco's remark of her taking such good care of Hermione and decided right away it could be risked. She smiled at the pair of them. "Yes, why not. It doesn't seem too dangerous and I can see that you are getting bored here. Go on before I change my mind!" Madam Pomfrey then walked straight back into her office.

Hermione gave a squeal of delight and while hugging Draco she accidentally pushed him off the bed in her excitement. She giggled and told him to wait outside while she changed.

5 minutes later Hermione and Draco were walking hand in hand round the lake. Even though lessons were still going Draco didn't have to go since he had been looking after Hermione, there wasn't a soul around apart from themselves. And it was quiet, it was peaceful and it was just what they needed. They walked round to the top part of the lake which was just outside the view of Hogwarts and they sat down, leaned against each other and talked about all that had happened, with the occasional kiss thrown in (Like every other sentence).

In doing this they passed away most of the day and at last at about 6:00 they were back in the hospital wing. On the way there Draco was persuading Hermione to tell Harry and Ron about Andre. Hermione didn't understand why she should tell them, but Draco said they needed to know just in case he tried to harm her. Reluctantly Hermione agreed and she reminded Draco that she wasn't entirely helpless and didn't always need someone watching over her. Draco laughed and told her that he would see her tomorrow morning in the common room. They kissed goodbye Hermione went back to her bed and Draco went to the great hall for dinner.

Harry and Ron visited Hermione later that night, and Hermione began to tell them what was going on. She began from when she first started liking Draco and then she went on to Andre and how they met. Then she explained how Andre was mad at Draco and that he kept popping up in Draco's dreams. Harry and Ron sat there through it not able to speak, but just being amazed at what had happened.

"Why didn't you tell us before? You could have been in danger and we wouldn't have realised!" Ron said. Ever since Hermione had forgiven them they had been on the over protective big brother routine.

"Well, I didn't think it was necessary, but Draco said for me to tell you" Hermione explained.

"Don't worry we'll look after you. We won't let him harm you" Harry said. Hermione felt quite emotional at how much Harry and Ron cared for her, and how much they were supporting her. They then began to talk about meaningless things, and as always the conversation turned to Quidditch.

Hermione sat there bored out of her head and then quite suddenly she felt very tired and exhausted. So she leaned back on her pillows and fell asleep. Harry and Ron didn't even notice until 5 minutes later when they were going to ask her a question. They looked down at her and then quietly left the hospital wing.

Hermione awoke with sunlight streaming through her eyelids. She'd had the best sleep for ages and felt really refreshed. As far as she could tell she hadn't had any thing unusual happen to her during the night, so if what Madam Pomfrey said was true then she could be out and in her own room again. She hugged herself with joy feeling that nothing could break her mood.

Madam Pomfrey always seemed to know when her patients were awake as she had just walked out of her office and was walking towards Hermione in less than a minute since she had woken up. Hermione looked up at her anxiously as she came over. Madam Pomfrey's mouth twitched at the sight of Hermione looking up with such a hopeful face. She grinned slightly and told Hermione the news she had been waiting for.

"Once you are dressed and have had your breakfast you can leave –" Hermione cried aloud, "But . . . you cannot go to classes today as they have already started. You cannot overdue yourself this week, take it easy" Hermione was looking as if she wasn't listening and thinking of doing exactly the opposite of what Madam Pomfrey said so Madam Pomfrey finished with "OR . . . You will find yourself back in her for another week" This sobered Hermione down at one.

"No, no! I'll be good" She said timidly. Madam Pomfrey smiled and turned away just as Hermione's breakfast appeared.

Hermione was sitting on her own bed looking around her. She was glad to be back but she didn't want to be on her own. Draco wouldn't come if he didn't know she was there so using her very smart witchy brain she sent him a note which read:

Dear Draco,

I am in our common room, at break meet me there, I need to tell you something!

Love Hermione xXx

She kissed the parchment and sent it to him in a swish of her wand. Then she bounced on her bed with glee and eyes her school books longingly. It wouldn't hurt if she read one . . . would it? She debated for a second and decided know. So she picked up her potions book and began to read up on the potion they were studying.

It seemed like less than half an hour when she heard the wall open. She put down her book and jumped off her bed. Ever since she had woken up she was in a strange happy excitable mood. She ran through her door and jumped on the person who had just come through the door way.

Unfortunately it wasn't Draco she had jumped on but . . . a kind of angry looking Professor McGonagall. Hermione quickly got off her, and stepped back a pace or two.

"Sorry professor I um . . . thought you were someone else." She explained sheepishly.

"I gathered that I didn't think you would usually greet me in that manner" Hermione blushed. "I just came to see if you were alright, but obviously you are so I need say no more. She turned to go and paused "And don't worry Granger this will be just between ourselves"

Hermione nodded and watched her walk out the wall. She leaned back and sighed. That had been embarrassing! She had barely turned around to walk into her room when she heard the wall opening again. She turned a round warily and began to speak.

"Look I'm sorry ok I didn't mean to . . ." She trailed off.

"Didn't mean to what?" A startled voice replied. Hermione turned around and there was Draco.

"Umm. . . nothing. I'm just glad you came. You got my note?" She asked. He nodded, and explained that he was a head on his work in his next lessons and as head boy he could have the rest of the day off. Hermione squealed and asked who he was going to spend it with.

"Well I was thinking of seeing Pansy and perhaps Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle . . ." HE glanced at Hermione's face which had a hurt expression on it, "Duh . . . who do you think I am going to spend the rest of the day with?" He gave her a little nudge and she smacked him over the head with a pillow.

"You know it's just cos I'm gullible that you got away with that!" she said seriously.

"I know" He replied, "But I'm gonna get away with this!" And heaved her over his shoulder and ran over to the sofa and put her on it, then climbing on top of her he produced a feather out of thin air. "Now that your not so Ill I get to play with you!" And with her hands underneath her she could do nothing to stop him tickling her with the feather. She cried so hard she had tears coming out. All that could be heard was her laughter and his, and it was a good sound to listen to.

Two hours later they were out in Hogsmeade. Since they were head boy and girl they could be trusted to go out when they wanted. They wandered all over the little village hand in hand. They went in girly shops, shops Draco wanted to go in and then they went and had lunch in a restaurant at the back of Hosmeade which Hermione had never noticed before. Inside it was bewitched to be dark so that people could eat by candle light. There was soft music playing in the background that gave the whole place a romantic feel.

When they had sat down at a table for two Hermione suddenly went very girly. She had never eaten at a table for two with guy before and was slightly nervous and she kept blushing. Draco didn't' care though he thought she looked beautiful and stretched out his hand to hold hers and told her so.

They were looking at each other with love in their eyes and for once neither were worried about their emotion being so open. The barely noticed what they ate and it took a long time for them to finish as all they could do was stare at each other and make pointless conversation. Hermione noticed with relief that quidditch had never been mentioned.

4 hours had passed since they had entered Hogsmeade and they were back in their common room. Draco had been a real gentleman, he had opened doors for her, he had helped her take her coat off and had even conjured her a rose on the way back. By the time they were back it was 4:30 pm. School was over and most people would probably be studying or doing homework. Hermione and Draco just snuggled up together and took it in turns to read a book to each other. They weren't disturbed and they didn't even notice that they had missed dinner. It wasn't until 8:30 they were finished. They didn't realise time could go by so quickly when you were with someone you loved.

Hermione went in the shower going very slowly and wearing a goofy grin on her face. She seemed to hardly realise what she was doing and she spent a whole hour in there! Finally though she got out and got changed into her night clothes. She dried her hair in a wave of her wand, and went out into the common room to wait for Draco.

He took less time in the shower as she did and was out really quickly. A clock on the mantelpiece that they had never noticed before struck 9:30. Draco went and took his place on the sofa beside Hermione. She turned and looked at him. He held out his arms and she shook her head.

"Wait. There's something I need to tell you . . . well two things actually . . . the first is kind of complicated and the second is shocking. I'll say them in the right order . . ." She took several deep breaths as if bracing herself. "Draco I . . . I . . . I . . ." She turned her head away and then looked back straight in to his eyes. "Draco . . . I love you" She had said it. She had said the thing eh didn't want her to say. It was now or never time for Draco.

"I don't"

A/N: There you go! Cliff hanger or what! I will try and get these chapters up and quickly! I will do my best. Please read and review!!!! I will update soon luv Water Demon xXx


	24. I love you I hate you

**A/N: Everything in this chapter will be explained later ok! I know it seems a bit weird but I promise you will have all the answers by the time this story has finished. I dedicate this chapter to Lilspitfire, it was she who encouraged me to get this up so quickly! Oh and I have over 100 reviews, yeah . . . I feel so happy!! Thank you people for getting me this far!**

**P.S. Daunting Darkness, I have accepted your cookie. . . it was very nice and I have now decided to forgive you as it was a double chocolate chip one! Here is this chapter and I hope I don't have to threaten you again missy!**

I love you . . . I hate you

Hermione sat, her smile dying on her lips as she watched Draco.

"What?!" Hermione was sure she had misheard him. She had to have misheard him. Holding her breath she waited for his answer. As she did she could have sworn she heard a faint laughter. Perhaps it was just someone laughing outside. She forgot about it instantly.

"I said 'I don't'." Draco told her, his voice had almost a bored tone in it. Hermione began shaking her head, she couldn't believe it. She was sure he felt the same way. Had all those months been for nothing?

"No. That can't be true." Tears sprung to Hermione's eyes, "Did I do something wrong?"

Draco gave her a look she hadn't seen in ages. His boring, why-am-I-talking-to-you look. He drawled "Well when the female just gets too clingy, that's when you know you have to change." His whole manner had changed. She couldn't see Draco anymore, just the cruel boy who had taken his place. It was as if the Draco she had known had never existed.

Hermione looked at him. He was sitting there indifferent as if they were talking about the weather. "You can't change your feelings for someone . . . just like that" She clicked her fingers. "You don't suddenly decide you don't like someone in the space of a moment!"

"Of course you can. Life is hard and so is love" Draco was trying to be as ruthless as possible. "I just had a change of mind ok? Just accept it" He turned his back on her. So he would not look at her face. It was always harder that way. And he would know; he had had a lot of experiences with this sort of thing.

Hermione was just staring at the back of his head. Thinking how things had been. Believing that this was all just a joke. He was going to turn around and ok – not admit he loved her, but at least say he cared for her. But even then she knew, even as she was gathering solutions, she knew that the Draco she had known would never do that. She just had to say one more thing.

"But I said I loved you!" She whispered, tears streaming down her face. He looked back at her then looked away quickly and said quietly "Well get over it, I have already" That's what set Hermione off. She stood up and raced to the doorway. Just as she was about to walk through she turned back to Draco.

"I HATE you!" She ran out bursting into tears. The wall closed silently behind her.

Draco was still sitting on the sofa, and reviewing how things had gone. But always he would have her hurt, broken, tear streaked expression in his mind as she said those three heart wrenching words; which would echo in his mind for eternity.

Ron and Harry were just on their way to see Hermione, they knew it was late but they just had to see if she was alright, when they saw a figure hurrying in their direction. The person had their hands over their face and seemed to be crying loudly. Harry and Ron just stared, as the person came closer into view. The person looked like a girl, all their doubts went away as the girl bashed into them without seeing who they were. Luckily no one fell down, but Harry and Ron were looking at the girl terrified. It was Harry who sorted out the situation.

"Um . . . Are you alright?" Harry asked. The girl stopped crying for a second and quickly took her hands away from her face.

"Hermione?!" Harry and Ron yelled in unison. Hermione covered her tear streaked face again and spoke through her hands.

"I need to talk to you. Come to the room of requirement with me . . . now!" Her whole attitude worried Harry and Ron. Her shoulders were trembling and her voice was shaky. All in all she looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown.

"Sure, sure, we'll come." Ron said. So They began to lead Hermione to the room of requirement. One on either side of her, with their arms round her shoulders. There was no talk until they got there and it was Harry and Ron who conjured up the room of requirement.

When they got inside Hermione saw they had done a good job. There were comfy sofas everywhere, and surprisingly a box of tissues was on a table by one of the sofas. There were even boxes of Hermione's favourite chocolate! Hermione gave a little smile then made her way over to the sofa with the chocolate and tissues near it and sat down in the middle. Harry and Ron went and sat either side of her.

"Would you like to tell us what has been going on?" Harry asked. Not pushing for her to answer just a question that any good friend would ask.

"Yes I will . . . I'll tell you" Hermione's words were muffled with tears and Harry and Ron knew she was extremely upset about something, they had never seen her this upset since . . . well since before she went out with Draco.

"Is it anything to do with _him_ . . ." Ron said, "You know . . . _Andre_?" Ron said in hushed tones.

Hermione shook her head "No, no this has got nothing to do with him but

. . . Draco!" She burst into tears again. Harry and Ron went into big brother mode, saying things like: 'has he hurt you? If he has we'll kill him', 'I knew he was no good', 'He'll pay if he's hurt you'.

Hermione slowly told them all that had happened that day and over the past couple of weeks. She even told them about the tattoo, which she was going to tell Draco about, but now . . . she didn't need to. It was her problem.

Harry and Ron listened to her story with growing concern, concern for their best friend and then hatred towards Malfoy for the cause of Hermione's pain.

"And you know . . ." Hermione was saying, "I thought I would finally be happy now, after all that's happened this year." And silent tears began to creep down her face as she closed her eyes in anguish. Harry and Ron put their arms around her resting their heads against hers. Trying to be there for her, making up for the pain the had partly caused. And they stayed that way and ended up falling to sleep like that, slowly one by one, somewhere they heard a clock chime 11.

Hermione was dreaming:

_She was in a barren landscape, which suited her mood, everything was grey and dull looking. There were no bright colours to be seen. Even as she stood there lost for words and still thinking of her pain she saw a figure approach._

_"Hello? Who's there?" She called. The figure stopped then carried on walking, the person was continuing to walk towards her. She just stood there watching them come closer. At last she saw who it was._

_"Go away I don't want to see or talk to you!" She hissed venomously. She took a step backward and shouted into the air. "Wake up, wake me up, Harry, Ron wake me up" It didn't work she was still stuck with her own tormentor and betrayer . . . Malfoy._

_"What do you want?" she said coldly. It took every effort not to run and press herself against him. She stood their, as cold as ice._

_"Do you think I am happy with this, Granger?" He spoke back harshly._

_Ouch. Hermione thought. Back to last name calling. "Well I don't care Malfoy. Just go away. I can't believe I still have to see you in my dreams, I never want to see you again . . ." She began crying losing control "Just go away and leave me, go away . . . leave me with my misery which you caused . . . my beloved tormentor." _

_She turned her back on him, not aware that he was moving to stand behind her, she was crying, she was pouring out her heart through her tears._

_"Is that what you think I am?" He said softly, "You think that I am . . . your beloved tormentor?" He spoke low, as if he were ashamed of himself._

_"Yes" Hermione replied just as slowly, "You are the sole benefactor of my pain . . . I still love you . . . yes that's true . . . but . . . I still hate you. Nothing will change that. I would not go back to you, even though it will cause me pain. I won't . . ." She began crying again "get . . . hurt again. Stay away from me" She ended whispering._

_Malfoy looked like he was going to say something more, but she cut him off. "No, go away, don't talk to me or touch me, go away!" She yelled._

_Hermione felt a sudden tug, a jerk pulling her upwards, she looked at Malfoy in surprise, her first impulse was to run to him, but no she would not do that. Then she was being jerked upwards, she was being pulled into nothing, there was nothing around her. She felt a jolt and woke up with a start._

Hermione opened her eyes and realised it was morning. Harry and Ron were standing over her, with concern on their faces. She rubbed her face.

"I'm wet . . . why am I wet?" She looked at them both.

"You were crying in your sleep, it was horrible we couldn't stand there and watch you cry! So we woke you up." Hermione looked at them both, smiling.

"At least I'm glad that I have such good best friends!" she stood up and drew them both into a hug. "What would I do without you?" She whispered. Pulling back to look at them both with teary eyes.

"Now stop that Hermione, you'll get us started to" Ron and Harry made gestures with their hands as if they were about to cry. (A/n: If any of you have seen Miss Congeniality you will know what I mean. Lol)

Hermione laughed and they exited the room of requirement to go down to breakfast together.

"By the way what _were _you dreaming about?" Ron asked. They both looked at her.

She spoke one word: "Malfoy"

Hermione was sitting in her room waiting for Harry and Ron to get back from lessons. It had been a dull day for her. She just sat there, not doing anything, staring at the wall in front of her. She knew she should get up and do something, but . . . she couldn't. She felt so miserable. Draco – Malfoy was the only person she had opened her heart to and the only person she had ever got as close to. She tried to shake herself out of her depression.

In the end she just read. She could not go to lessons as Madam Pomfrey said she couldn't, so after she had breakfast with Harry and Ron she went back up to her room, where she told them she would wait for them. She hadn't looked over at the Slytherin table and wouldn't. Just in case she saw . . . him.

Since it was Thursday, and so close to the end of the week, she decided she wouldn't go to lessons on Friday because that would just be pointless. She would start on Monday. She began thinking of her dream. If she had to dream Malfoy every night she would go mad. She couldn't stand it. If she dreamed of him tonight then she would not sleep again. She was interrupted from her thoughts by a knock on the door. She leapt from her bed and opened her door.

"Harry, Ro-" It was not Harry or Ron. It wasn't even Malfoy, it was Andre.

"What do you want?" She asked. She put her hands on her hips and looked at him in annoyance.

"Just to talk to you. I need to tell you something. You need-" He began before Hermione cut him off.

"You don't know what I need. I don't want to talk to anyone! Go away!" She slammed the door in his face and locked it. She was in a bad mood.

Everyone was preaching to her. She had changed, she would not usually snap at someone if they were trying to help. It didn't even occur to wonder how he had gotten in.

Harry and Ron came back shortly after the Andre incident, but she didn't want to worry them about it so she didn't tell them. They came and they told her about their day, putting lots of detail in so that she would be able to keep her mind off Malfoy. It worked. Harry and Ron told her each little detail, including what they had for lunch.

"Then I chewed my sausage 5 times, no wait, was it 5 or 6 Harry? Anyway, then I swallowed and then . . ." Ron continued. It made Hermione laugh. But it made her happy, it showed that she had two great friends who cared about her a lot.

Hermione didn't want to go down to the Great hall for dinner, so Harry and Ron went down on their own and bought her back up some of her favourite things. All of it seemed like dessert and all of them had chocolate in it. They stayed after their dinner but this time was spent doing homework. Hermione, even though she had missed loads was so far ahead that she was level with the year now. So like a good friend she helped them with their homework.

Hermione didn't want to go to sleep that night she just didn't. What if _he_ was there? She wouldn't be able to stand it. She had managed through the day without seeing him once. She didn't want to see him. But still it was night, and anyway she wouldn't be dreaming of Malfoy because she wasn't thinking of him. Oh . . . but she was . . . she was thinking of not thinking of him . . . things are just too confusing. While Hermione was thinking this through she fell asleep.

She was dreaming:

_She wasn't in a barren landscape this time, quite the opposite, she was in a meadow, one full of colour and warmth. Hermione quite liked it. The grass was up to her knees and there were flowers everywhere. Every kind imaginable. She picked a deep red coloured rose beside her and held it in her hand. It was beautiful. She looked down and noticed she was wearing a white summer dress. It fit her perfectly and trailed on the ground at the back. It was beautiful._

_Through all the wonders of the meadow she saw a rippling in the grass, then there was a puff of air and who was standing there? None other than Draco Malfoy._

_"You just gone to sleep?" She called to him. She was angry with him, and disliked him, but it was also very interesting the way he had just puffed into her dream._

_"Yes . . . and great another night stuck with you." He said nastily._

_"Well I didn't drag you here. You're ruining my dream!" She shouted back just as nastily._

_"Oh" He came striding towards her, "and what would your dream be about? Hmm? Didn't it occur to you that perhaps this is just a landscape built for me and you to meet?" He was standing right in front of her panting, waiting to see her reaction._

_"No it didn't, and I don't care I am going to sit right here and turn my back on you. Don't bother to talk to me!" She replied childishly._

_And she did just that. She turned her back on him, sat down and began to arrange some flowers. Malfoy looked at her open mouthed. She had changed, a lot. He turned his back on her and just looked around the landscape._

_He turned around a couple of hours later and found she had gone. Hmm, he thought, at least no I can have some peace and quiet._

Hermione woke up, what's more she had flowers in her hand. The ones from her dream. Ok, how had she managed that? she thought to herself. She was about to ponder on it some more when she heard a voice.

"Seven days" And then a cruel cackle. Seven days till what?

A/N: There you go. I think that this story will draw to a close, but I still can't make up my mind. Happy Ending . . . Sad Ending. Which shall I chose. Hmmm. Well please read and review. And I will get the next chapter up as quickly as possible!! Luv Water Demon xXx


	25. It's Too Late

A/N: I would just like to say that if anything is really confusing and you really don't understand you can email me on: . I would be glad to help sort out any queries!

It's too late

Seven Days. What's going to happen in seven days? That's all that was going through Hermione's mind on Friday. She was tired, it seemed that her dreams did not refresh her, it was almost like when she first started getting into trouble and having weird things happen to her. No. She didn't want to think about that. She couldn't. It would remind her of him.

Harry and Ron were still at lessons. She yearned to be with them again, laughing and joking, she wanted everything to be the way it was before all the terrible things started happening she wanted her old life back. Without noticing Hermione was just itching her back. No, not her back . . . her shoulder blade. Her tattoo! She'd completely forgotten about it. She quickly took off her top to examine it more. Yep. It was defiantly the mark of the prophesy, but if only she could remember what it was all about.

Hermione put her top back on and walked to the library. She'd be able to find out what the prophesy was about in no time. But it would be hard to find, she would have to ask Madam Pince, of course she would leave out the bit that it was actually on her.

10 minutes later a very disappointed Hermione left the library. Madam Pince knew that they did have the book, but it wasn't there anymore. She couldn't even remember who had looked at it last. Madam Pince was angry that the book had gone missing, but she assured Hermione it would turn up some time. Until then Hermione vowed she would go to the library everyday to check.

Draco's heart was in tatters. His heart broke when he heard her say those three vital words. His face was a picture of pain. Misery was etched into every feature of his face. He watched as Hermione left the common room. He had hoped that she would never tell him that she loved him, he also hoped he would never have to hear that she hated him either.

After about 20 minutes of staring at the wall in front of him, he wondered if he had done the right thing. No, he had to tell her the truth – no he couldn't, had he done the right thing? He knew he had. He gave himself a little mental shake to help him remember. He HAD done the right thing, he had done the right thing. He kept repeating those words in his head. He had done the right thing.

He could have sworn that he had heard laughter when he had said no. Was it his imagination? What did it mean? It didn't matter, he could worry about that later, at that moment all he wanted to do was go to bed and forget about what had happened . . . although . . . he didn't know he was going to be _that _harsh, he couldn't believe that he had managed to sound that way. But it was convincing . . . even if it had been a bit sudden.

Draco woke up in the morning feeling worse than he had the night before. She had been in his dreams. It was horrible, he couldn't even escape in his dreams, he still had to be ruthless and mean. He didn't like it. Why did it have to happen? All he had to do was get through the day without thinking about her. He could do it.

Surprisingly he did manage. He hadn't thought of her once, but he kept seeing her face in his mind's eye as she said those three heart wrenching words. He smiled grimly . . . a few years ago he would have been happy if she had said it . . . but now? He had to be happy. Things were going to plan.

He dreamt of her again, and the meeting was the same, except perhaps a little childish, he hadn't expected her to be like that, she had changed. When he woke up he heard a voice say: seven days. And then a mental laughter. Oh great. Now he was hearing voices. Brilliant. He was going insane. Brilliant. But then again . . . he kept having a little nagging voice at the back of his mind telling him he had forgotten to think of something, but what was it?

There was one problem he had a solution to. To make sure he wouldn't dream of her he would not sleep. Simple as that. He would start right now.

It was Wednesday evening. Hermione was starting to look extremely tired. She barely slept at night for fear that she would see him in her dreams. They had barely spoken. If Malfoy was sorry about it then he showed no signs. He barely glanced her way. They never talked to one another, and Hermione stayed out of the common room as much as possible. It was a needless gesture, since Malfoy spent all of his time in the Slytherin common room. Hermione meanwhile had spent Saturday and Sunday in Harry and Ron's company. They never asked her if she had talked to him, or even what was going on. They just left things alone.

They had spent their time in the common room, and everyone seeing that Harry and Ron were being nice to Hermione, were nice to her to. They spent their days either reading (in Hermione's case) or talking about quidditch and doing childish things (in Harry and Ron's case). Harry and Ron noticed their friend looking more tired everyday and began to worry about her. When they asked what was wrong though, she simply shook her head and said that she was fine.

Hermione went to lessons on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Everything was the same and she felt a fierce joy at working again. Although, her only worry was in potions. She still had to sit with Malfoy and this time they were literally silent, they did not talk unless it was vital and they barely even acknowledged each other. It was like it had always been though . . . apart from now their attitude to each other wasn't forced. Apart from those down points Hermione's days went by smoothly.

Every evening she would go to the Gryffindor common room and there get beaten at Wizards chess by Ron, help Harry and Ron with their homework, watch Harry and Ron testing Fred and George's merchandise and then finally get bored to death by their talk of quidditch. It was back to the normal routine. Sure, it was boring and the same thing happened everyday but Hermione loved it. She loved the way she could sit and talk to her friends, the way she could still be herself, but most of all she found their companionship comforting.

When she was with Dra – Malfoy it was only him and her, but now there was noise everywhere, people laughing, people talking, people just making noise. Hermione loved it.

She didn't want to bother Harry and Ron with her problems when they looked so happy. She would tackle them on her own. It was true that she was tired but then she had slept, not for long and only in little naps. It wasn't enough though. She had found a spell to help her keep awake and she made coffee every night to help her stay awake. You couldn't rely on magic all the time! She was really tired, but perhaps if she was in such a deep enough sleep she wouldn't dream. It was worth a shot. She would sleep properly, when she felt she really couldn't go on staying awake any longer.

Hermione had been to the library every day and each day was the same result. The book still couldn't be found. She knew she should try and stop checking everyday, other wise Madam Pince would start getting suspicious. She wouldn't go the next day then, but she would go on Friday.

Hermione looked at the books around her on the table. She had finished all her assignments set, and all the homework. She was up to date and on top again. She began thinking about how she was top of everything even in potions, but then that would be because she was working with . . . Malfoy. She felt her thoughts turning towards him, but then she was saved by Harry and Ron. They had tried some product of Fred and George's and they were now hopping round the room pretending to be frogs. Everyone in the whole room was roaring in laughter at the sight of them both squatting like frogs and jumping every few seconds, with the occasional croak thrown in. Hermione was drawn in and began laughing along with everyone else.

It was even more hilarious when the effects wore off and Harry and Ron came to themselves, wondering what they were doing squatting on the floor. They remembered and just as they came over to sit back next to Hermione she heard Ron say "Not enough frog" He caught Hermione giving him a look and explained, "They're trying to make a product that will make a person into a frog, like green and stuff." Hermione raised her eyebrows and gave a small smile and muttered "Boys"

It was Thursday night and Hermione was sitting on her bed trying desperately not to fall asleep. Why did everything have to happen to her? What did she do wrong to deserve all the pain she had been caused? It was a mystery to her. Thursday had passed the same as most days had: completely boring. She was getting to a point that she was almost falling asleep in classes. She was yawning constantly and spent more and more time in a doze. She knew what she had to do. Tonight she would sleep, she knew she couldn't fight it any longer. It was . . . (Hermione had difficulty focusing on her watch) 19:30. No one would go to sleep at this time. Suddenly she remembered that tomorrow would mark the end of the 'seven days'. . . whatever that was.

Due to her tiredness she suddenly began to think of Malfoy. Stupid thing to do really when you are trying to get over them. She began thinking about how nice he smelt and how good he looked. Just as she fell back onto her bed she was thinking how nice his lips were and how good at kissing he was, and the way he had looked at her and the good times they had shared together. That was when she fell asleep.

Draco had spent the last 6 days in a kind of trance. He was so tired. He just couldn't do it anymore. He would have to sleep. He would do it that night. It was all HER fault that he was tired. It was HER fault that he wasn't sleeping. But he was surprised to see that she was looking just as tired as he was. Was she doing the same thing? If she was then she was stupid because he done it first and that meant that he was losing precious sleep for nothing.

It was strange but Draco knew that his thoughts were jumbled and nothing made sense but he kept thinking about that laugh and the voice stating seven days. What did it all mean? Draco was sure that he knew . . . but if only he could remember where he had heard that voice before and what was happening the next day. He couldn't remember. Just as he was flopping down onto his bed and closing his eyes letting sleep take him, he suddenly wondered if it had anything to do with his tattoo, but sleep gave him an irresistible tug and he slipped slowly into his dreams.

_Draco felt as if he was falling. He had nothing to grab onto. He didn't know whether he was falling up or down. Then suddenly it stopped and he fell with a thud onto the ground. Where was he? He got up shakily. There was nothing around him. Everything was blackness, utter dark. A light appeared to the side of him, and someone appeared with a pop. He thought: please don't let it be Granger._

_It wasn't. It was someone far worse. Andre. Draco stiffened. His whole body was tense. He hadn't met with Andre for a couple of weeks, he was glad about that, but he regretted that that was not the last time he would ever have to meet him._

_"What do you want?" He spat. His fists were clenched in an attempted to keep himself under control._

_"Now, now. Is that the way to treat an old friend?" Andre asked. Laughter dancing in his eyes. Amusement was engraved into every feature on his face._

_"Friends don't usually cause harm every time they meet!" Draco retorted._

_"Well you have me there. I don't deny that I haven't caused you pain, but, well, I'm not here to discuss that with you." Andre paused letting Draco let this statement pass through his brain._

_"What do you want to talk about now? There is nothing you can hurt me with. I don't fear dying. You can't touch me. I don't care about anyone. You . . . can't . . . hurt . . . me." Draco informed him._

_That statement only made Andre's insane smile grow wider and there was a wicked look shining out of his eyes._

_"Yes. You're right about that. It would seem that there is nothing I could hurt you with. I already knew that you were not afraid to die. But the other things. I don't think you're being honest with me . . . or with yourself for that matter." _

_Draco stared at Andre in shock. He had done everything to keep her safe. He had. Andre was bluffing. Just as if he was reading Draco's thoughts, Andre waved his hand and an image of Hermione appeared asleep in her bed. Draco stared at her. No . . . Andre couldn't know. Look at the way he had acted. No matter what he did though, Andre still wouldn't be able to hurt him . . . if he showed that he still didn't care. So he put on his usual drawl._

_"What's this supposed to be?" He glared at Andre. Andre however just glared back at him. An unpleasant smile had settled on his face and he was looking triumphant._

_"Don't you realise what you've done?" He whispered. Still staring unpleasantly at Draco. Draco was confused._

_"You have delivered her right into my hands! You've started off a chain of events that even I thought you weren't stupid enough to do . . . but clearly I was wrong. I thought I could get you easier, make you realise you loved her . . . kill her . . . boo hoo . . . I win. But then . . . things turned out differently. It turned out for the better . . . for me, not you. You woke up to find a strange tattoo on your arm. You didn't know what it was . . . I did. I began to put an even better plan into action. Especially after you realised you did love her, then you saved her. Things were going according to plan . . . I decided to hurry things on a bit. Get things moving. I told you what I was going to do to get back at you . . . hurt the thing you loved most . . . hurt your precious Hermione . . . and you did the most obvious thing . . . the only thing you could think of to save her from me . . . you denied her love . . . made it seem like you didn't care . . . perfect. You were playing right into my hands"_

_"No . . . I wasn't. I told her I didn't love her to save her. Yes you're right about that. So that you would see that I didn't love her. So that you would leave her alone . . . and what does my tattoo have anything to do with this . . . ? Unless . . . Unless . . ." Draco's eyes widened in horror._

_"No . . . no!" He stuttered. Andre watched him gleefully. Draco was looking at the image of Hermione. A thought struck him. "But she hasn't got the other half of the tattoo . . . she would have told me."_

_"She tried" Andre said giving a huge fake sigh. "She was going to tell you right after she said she loved you. Lucky that you kept yours secret other wise things might have gone wrong. Anyway let's see . . . how does it go? Oh yeah . . ." Andre cleared his throat and recited_: 'this mark that is of a devil carrying an angel is a symbolic picture and is in two parts the first part is of the devil carrying an angel which is usually put on the male. There is another half to the drawing which is put on the female and the drawing is of the devil and the angel embracing each other. The only way the mark appears is when someone begins to change. After that the other half of the mark will appear on the other person who is also changing but does not know it yet but you will not know who it is until you have saved that other persons life whether in the past, present or future. Then that person is known as your soul mate and also you will spend eternity together unless one person refuses the love of the other then the person whose love has been denied will forever be in limbo once they have died which will be on the first full moon after their love was declared. To stop this, the person who denied the other persons love has to . . . Then the lovers will be bound together. The male will be from Slytherin . . . this is a prophesy that was made and will happen when a person from the past will. . .'

"_That's what you read in the book wasn't it?" Andre continued, "I took a few bits out, so you wouldn't get suspicious . . . and then like the bad little boy you are, you stole the book. Lucky, really, otherwise little miss smarty pants over there (he jerked his head over to Hermione's sleeping form) would have managed to solve it all and work out what you have not!"_

"_And what's that?" Draco asked, his whole body shaking with anger._

"_That you two are what the prophesy is talking about. That you saved her on a full moon, that both of you are going through changes, I am the person that is from your past that will meddle in your lives (I think I've done a pretty good job), and that finally when you denied her love she would die on her next full moon! Have I made it idiot proof enough for you?" Andre asked smirking. "Oh and what do you know . . . it's Friday tomorrow and it's the first full moon that night!" He went into a fit of manic laughter._

_Draco meanwhile was looking at Hermione's sleeping form. "What have I done?" He whispered. "What have I done?" He looked back at Andre and lunged for him. "I'm going to kill you!" He yelled._

"_Not before I kill her!" Andre retorted. Draco stopped dead in his tracks. "The prophesy has to be fulfilled! It's too late!" He laughed again before whispering "Revenge is sweet" and disappearing._

"_NO!" Draco shouted. He turned around to find that Hermione was gone as well._

"_Hermione!" He screamed. "Hermione!" He kept screaming her name over and over in anguish, he caused her pain when he thought it was for the best and now he had caused her pain just so that she could die. How could he have been so stupid?_

Draco woke up with a shudder and sat up straight. He drew air into his lungs and screamed into the bright sunlight that lit his room.

"HERMIONE!"

A/N: Wow! That took a lot of energy to do! But I really enjoyed writing this chapter! It was so fun! I felt right in there with the characters! Any way I would like to thank all my reviews because you keep me going and I would like to say I will get the next one up as soon as possible! Oh and every one go and read Daunting Darkness's story: A tangled Web. Fab story!


	26. Why am I so stupid?

Why am I so stupid?

Draco jumped off of his bed from where he had crashed out the night before. He was still fully clothed. He grabbed his wand off of the night stand beside his bed and stowing it in his jean pocket ran out of his room. He stopped dead when he was in the common room thinking that perhaps Andre might still be around. He crept quietly around the normal looking common room, inspecting everything to make sure all was still the same.

Next, he made his way cat-quiet towards Hermione's room. He leant against the door, trying to hear if anything was going on in the room. After standing there for 30 seconds he decided everything seemed fine, but still he drew his wand out of his pocket and held it in front of him like a sword.

Should he knock? What if he woke her up? No . . . he wouldn't knock . . . he would just creep in really quietly, so as not to make a sound. She would never know. So, with curls of unease in his stomach, he turned the door handle with a sense of dread of not knowing what he might find on the other side.

The door swung noiselessly open and he crept into the dark room. Even though it was daylight outside the curtains were drawn and the heavy drapes around the bed were pulled closed. Draco crept across the bed so that he could pull one of the heavy drapes back a bit so he could see what was inside.

Fingers fumbling slightly he found the end and drew it back slightly. The bed was . . . empty. Draco let out a breath of relief, but then he realised that if she wasn't there . . . then where was she? It looked like the bed had been slept in, and as he put out a hand to feel the covers, he could feel a slight warmth on them. She had not got up long a go then. He looked at his watch to see what the time was and saw that it was almost 11:00am!

He was talking to Andre last night though . . . and that meant that today was Friday . . . and that meant that . . . it was a full moon tonight! He ran out of her room, through the common room and out of the door. Running down the corridors, he decided what to do. He would go to Dumbledore and explain everything. Maybe he could get protection for Hermione. Dumbledore would be able to sort things out. Draco knew he could. With that in mind he sped down the passages.

It was only as he was racing along the corridor outside the Great Hall that he realised that he had met no-one on his travels. He should have met someone. It was Friday, a school day. The whole place should be packed with students making their way towards their second lesson. But he had met no-one! It was strange. He didn't like it. Draco stopped, he was tingling with dread, he quickly looked around the entrance hall and then once again set off to go to Dumbledore's office.

Hermione had woken with a sense of anxiety and doom hanging over her. She had slept well, nothing had disturbed her sleep, no dreams, no nothing. She felt better, but she couldn't help feeling something bad was going her way. It was strange. This was the 7th day and yet . . . and yet . . . everything seemed . . . normal. Perhaps she had imagined that voice. Yes, that was it, she imagined it. That was the only sensible conclusion. The walls were still standing, there was nothing about to happen. She kept telling herself this firmly, making sure that she believed it fully. It was her over reactive imagination. It was the first time then that Hermione believed that perhaps too much reading was bad for you. Nope. That wasn't it. She loved reading, it wasn't about to hurt her.

With the thought of reading fixed in her head, Hermione decided to go and check if the book was in the library now. She looked at her watch and focused on the time it was . . . 10:40! How could she have slept that long! She was supposed to be at lessons! What was wrong with her! She started pulling on her school uniform and in 5 minutes was done. It was only when she was finished did she remember that she had asked for this Friday off. She slowed down and remembered her conversation with Dumbledore the day before.

She had asked for the day off as she was so tired that she would barely be able to stay awake in lessons. Naturally, Dumbledore understood and agreed. He knew she would be able to catch up easily. She had been tempted to tell him about her tattoo but decided against it as she wasn't sure if it meant anything. She said thank you and left.

Hermione was glad she was getting the day off. It would mean that she would be able to go and see if any other books mentioned her tattoo. It was a start. So, as she liked a tidy room and really couldn't be bothered to make her bed she drew the curtains around her bed, and after a quick decision not to open the curtains in front of the window, went out the door and closed it with a snap.

After walking down a few corridors she began to feel a bit scared. She hadn't met any students, or teachers, or any other creature in the castle. Normally she would have passed a dozen classes by now. Perhaps, the lessons were being held elsewhere for today. That's it, she thought. The lessons are being held elsewhere. So, refusing to believe anything strange was going on, she headed for the library, determined to get some information.

When she got to the library though, the heavy oak doors were closed. Now that WAS strange. The library should have been open. It always was. The students needed it, _she_ needed it. Feeling slightly annoyed at the inconvenience she knocked on the big oak doors, feeling slightly foolish.

"Hello!" She called. "Hello! Anyone there?" She called again feeling slightly nervous. Why hadn't she seen anyone? Why was the library shut? Where was everyone?

Hermione cautiously leaned on the doors and with a quick push, they swung inwards. Hermione had alarm bells wringing in her head. Why were the doors just left open like that? Still determined to find what she was after, Hermione walked straight in and with a wave of her wand lit all the lamps.

"Now, where would the books about prophesy books be? Oh yeah in the prophesy section" Hermione said aloud. And since she knew the layout of the library off by heart she headed straight for the back section of the library.

"I suppose I should start looking in ones that contain marks of different sorts." Hermione said to herself. "Yeah, that would be a good place to start" Knowing how many there were on prophesies Hermione began to get books off the shelves, which had something to do with marks in the title. She hoped she would be able to find it quickly as she really wasn't in the mood to spend ages researching. Which was an unusual thing for Hermione to think.

Draco had been up to the head masters office. (both the head boy and girl had been given the password encase they needed Dumbledore urgently. He had been up, knocked on the door, waited knocked again and there was still no reply from the head master. Draco then decided to brave going in uninvited, but to his surprise and growing fear, he saw that it was completely empty. No Dumbledore, no Phoenix. There was even no former headmasters, or headmistress's on the wall. Each portrait seemed completely empty. There was not a person around.

Draco thought it over again and knew somehow that Hermione was still in the castle. He would go back to the room and see if he could find the person finder spell he had learnt in the sixth year. He would bewitch a parchment to act as a map and then if anyone was in the castle then it would show up as a glowing green dot. It wouldn't say who it was, but then again any sort of person was better than no people at all.

Draco raced out of the room and down the spiralling staircase, setting off at a sprint to his room. Hermione might even be there when he got back. He hoped she would be. He wondered why his first priority hadn't been to find her in the first place. He cursed as his own stupidity and set off at an even faster pace to his room.

Draco skidded to a halt in front of the wall that hid the entrance of the common room the wall slid back to reveal a still normal looking room. Nothing had been touched. It didn't look as if Hermione had been back at all. His confidence in being able to find her was ebbing away, and in its place was guilt and worry settling in. Guilt because he should have thought about finding her earlier and all this mess was his fault, and worry because he hadn't seen a single living soul, and he still didn't know where Hermione was, he was worried for her safety because Andre was trying to get to her.

He looked around in the common room, trying to find the one book he was after. He looked in the desk, he looked on the desk, under the sofa, in the sofa, in the bathroom, in his room and there was still no sign of it anywhere! Then he wondered. What if Hermione had taken it into her room for some very strange and peculiar reason? It was worth a shot. So, with a light knock on the door, Draco waited to see if she was in there. He hit himself on the forehead. Stupid, stupid. Why am I so stupid today? He thought. She's not going to be in there, she's in the castle somewhere. That's why he needed the book. He was definitely losing his marbles.

He entered feeling a bit like a thief and embarrassed to be searching her drawers. But after a couple of minutes clever looking he managed to find it. It was in her bedside table.

After three wrong attempts, where glowing green goo spurted all over him, he finally had the right thing. There were two dots on the parchment, one was him, showing him in his room, and the other was in the library. Great, he thought, he should have guessed she would have been there. That is if it is her. There was no one else on the parchment, so that meant that Andre wasn't there either. For the second time that day he thought, why am I so stupid?

He rushed off out into the deserted corridors to find Hermione, to correct what he had done. He had to. He hurried on, hoping she would stay where she was. His stomach gave a little grumble, but he barely noticed and continued on his way to the library. On the second louder grumble, he looked at his watch and saw to his astonishment that it was 13:15. He had been searching for two hours. He was really losing track on time.

Hermione had looked through which felt like the 50th book before she decided to stop. Her back was hurting from being bent over the books and she was starting to feel just a little bit hungry. Even if there was no one around her, there was sure to be someone in the Great Hall. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 13:10. Her stomach gave a growl and she decided to give up on finding the prophesy. She felt slightly annoyed, but she was too hungry to think about anything now.

So with a defeat sigh she left the library and with a swish of her wand extinguished all the lamps. She closed the door softly behind her and made her way towards the Great hall.

Draco skidded to a halt outside the library doors, hoping she was still going to be there. He pushed one open and darkness met him. There couldn't be anyone working in the library if it was dark. He might as well check anyway. He did a quick sweep of the room and found a table at the back full of books . . . not any books though . . . books to do with prophesies! She had been her then! But where was she now? Draco thought and decided that she had probably gone to get something to eat as it was past 1. With a big sigh he hurried off to the Great Hall. He seemed to be doing a lot of hurrying.

Hermione walked slowly to the Great Hall feeling extremely lonely and wondering where everyone was. She felt depressed. Her footsteps echoed strangely and made her feel even more lonely. She missed company. Even Malfoy's, she thought. It sounded weird even to her considering that he wasn't being very nice to her.

She pushed the doors to Great Hall open. It was . . . totally empty, nothing stirred. It was like everyone had vanished! It was very unnerving. At that moment a new sound met her ears standing out against the roaring silence; it was footsteps. Her heart leapt strangely and found that the noise was coming from the other side of the hall.

Hermione jogged to the other side where she noticed a door that she had never seen before. From where she was standing the sound didn't sound like footsteps but someone knocking on the other side of the door. With some puzzlement Hermione slowly pushed the door but found it was locked. Hermione whipped out her wand and muttered the alohomora spell and there was a click of the door unlocking. With a small smile of remembrance of first year she pushed it open.

The room was dark and there was a shuffling sound as if someone was slowly dragging themselves away from the light. Hermione peered into the darkness but could see nothing . . . so she walked in a little bit further but still couldn't see anything. In a timid voice Hermione called out.

"H . . . Hello? Is any body there?"

Even though no one answered she was sure there was someone there. Then it came to her: she should light her wand! "Lumus" Then there was light. But what Hermione saw was not a person but a thing. Hermione slowly backed away wide eyed. It started to come towards her and she let out a piercing scream and turned to run but the thing was faster than her, it caught her just as she was at the threshold of the door. With another scream Hermione fell onto her front, she was dazed by the fall but rolled over just in time to see the thing change into a person right before her eyes. " Andre" She whispered. Then she blacked out.

Draco finished jogging outside the hall doors, and stopped a moment to catch his breath. Just as he went to push open the hall doors though, a piercing scream met his ears! Without wondering what he was getting himself into Draco pushed open the doors and saw that on the other side of the hall a girl was being dragged in to a closet, a girl with brown, curly hair, it was Hermione! He had found her! But he also saw that Andre was taking her.

Draco found himself running towards her. Shouting at the top of his voice, "NOOOOOOO!" But he was going too slow and the closet was on the other side of the hall, he would never make it! With a last spurt of energy Draco got to the door but found that it was closing, he was going too fast and there wasn't any room to stop so Draco closed his eyes and in the next second felt the impact as he slammed into the now closed door.

He bounced off it and laid sprawled on the floor but was not knocked out. He just laid there thinking that he could of done something more to help her! She had been taken by a thing he knew so well that had terrified him and that had stalked him in his and her dreams and with a horrified thought Draco knew what Andre was capable of. Draco hadn't been able to tell her how he felt and he knew what he would have to do, everything was his fault and now Andre had taking Hermione and he knew he had to rescue her.

He had to tell her how he felt, he had to tell her his misunderstanding. He had to get her to forgive him. But at that moment he wasn't capable of anything like that. He just lay on the floor, crying out his heart, his soul, crying in self pity.

A/N: Well here's chappie 26! What did you think? Please review cos reviews make authors happy and makes them write wicked stuff for their fans. hint, hint lol! Any way if you review tell me your opinions! What you thought of it, what parts were good. I can take constructive criticism but no flaming please! I don't think I could take it! Lol! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Luv Water Demon xXx


	27. That's The Way The World Works!

It's the way the world works

Draco was still upset. He had stopped crying. He couldn't believe he had led Hermione right into a trap. It was all his fault if he hadn't been so stupid. If he had just told her right from the beginning about his tattoo. But there was no way to save her though. Andre had taken out all the bits in the book which would be useful for him. He didn't know how to take back what he had done.

He looked up and saw that the door was gone! He scrambled to his feet and felt over the bare stretch of wall where the door was. Nothing. He couldn't feel anything. He took out his wand and muttered a couple of spells so the door would reveal itself. It didn't work.

Draco felt so lost and alone. How was he ever going to find her? She was the smart one, she was the one who would be able to figure everything out. But she wasn't with him. She was with Andre.

Saying that sentence made Draco snap out of his state of self pity. She was ALONE with him. And he was just standing around, when he could be doing anything to her. He would have to find him somehow. Draco sat down on the floor again and thought, he thought about his child hood days with Andre, trying to remember anything about him that would help him find Hermione.

Hermione felt something pulling on her robe sleeve. Where was she. The thing on her arm kept pulling with more urgency. She opened her eyes and saw . . . Draco!

"Draco?" Hermione cried "Is that really you?" Draco looked down on her as she was lying on the floor.

"Yes it's me" he said. "I've come to get you" Hermione's eyes shined with tears.

"You really do care about me" She said, "But where Andre? I can't remember anything about what happened. Where are we? How did I get here? How did you get here?" She asked in puzzlement.

"Shh." Draco said soothingly "Everything is going to be ok" He motioned for her to go over to him and she struggled to her feet. But just as she took some steps something held her back. She looked around in some puzzlement and found that she had chains round her wrists and ankles. She looked up into Draco's face to ask him if he could undo the chains. But when she looked up it wasn't Draco she was looking at . . . it was Andre.

"How did you do that?" She asked, curiosity overcoming her fear.

"I'm a shape shifter! I can change into anything I want!" He took a step towards her., "I thought it would be a laugh to see what you would do!"

"Don't come any closer" She screamed. "You're wicked! You're really evil! Why are you dong all this! Why are you doing this to me! I haven't done anything wrong" She sobbed.

"That's the way the world works! I need to get back at Draco. The only thing I can do is to kill you." Hermione opened her mouth to say why, but he cut her off. "Because you are the thing he cares about most! Plus that and I have to fulfil that love prophesy that he has started!"

"The what . . ?" Hermione began. Then her eyes went wide and she uttered a small oooh. "The prophesy to do with the angel and the devil! The tattoo that's on my back! But what's it got to do with me and Draco?" Hermione asked, her forehead puckered in a frown. She was sitting down again and huddled at the bottom of the wall in a heap.

"For a smart ass you really aren't all that clever at the moment!" He said gleefully. She was still looking at him in some puzzlement so he went on. "There is a prophesy where a girl and a boy from Hogwarts will be bound together as soul mates for eternity . . ." He explained how her and Draco were the girl and the boy and how they came to be that way. He didn't tell her the end of the prophesy where she was going to die. He would wait to see if she would ask that question herself.

"Yes that all makes sense" She said, "But what has it got to do with me? So what if we're soul mates. Why does this prophesy have anything to do with you and why do you have to fulfil the prophesy?" He looked at her with a glare full of wickedness and triumph!

"Because, if a lover has their love denied then they have till the next full moon for the other person to say that they love them or they will die on the night of the first full moon!" He laughed maliciously at her and watched in glee as she put her hands to her mouth in fright and the tears start to fall. She shrank even further away from him.

"But . . . but . . . but tonight . . . tonight is . . .is the first . . ." Hermione stuttered

"First full moon!" Andre finished off for her. Once she heard those words she fainted.

A wave of loneliness and fear overcame Draco as he was searching through his memories for some clue of where Hermione might be hidden. It was ironic that he had only just realised how much he loved her, when she was not there to know it too. Thoughts of Hermione and him kept interrupting his thoughts, and every time he allowed himself to think about her he felt his heart throb, and knew that he regretted everything nasty he said to her. How he wished he could give her a hug. Just something simple. Perhaps stoke her hair. Tell her how much he loved her. He might not be able to do that now if Andre had his way.

His face went steely and cold. He felt his chin rise in determination and defiance as he thought about Andre and what he had done to him. How he threatened Hermione, how he had tricked Draco into starting off the prophesy. He would get Hermione back! He lay back on the floor and tried to get comfy. He would start by going through all the places that Andre had been. Perhaps he would remember something. He closed his eyes and began to think.

_Hermione was in a bleak landscape, with a damp fog pressing in around her, she could see foggy shapes about her, but what they were she could not tell. She must be dreaming! Why was she here? Just as she was thinking how familiar this was becoming to her, she realised one of the black shapes were moving . . . towards her! All she could do was wait and see what or who it was._

_"Hermione!" A voice shouted. She knew that voice . . . but it couldn't possibly be . . . could it? Would he be that careless?_

_"Hermione!" The voice shouted again. "Are you there?" Then the black shape collided with her._

_Strong arms pulled her into a tight embrace, and she could feel all the protectiveness and love coming from the hug. The person pulled back and Hermione could see him for the first time._

_"Draco!" Was all she could say as she hugged him back hard._

_"Hermione we don't have much time." He looked deeply into her eyes and opened his mouth to say something._

_"Why? Why don't we have much time? What's going on? How did this all happen?" She asked, again curiosity making her ask questions._

_"The spell of Andre's is wearing off. The one that connect us! We need to hurry before he realises and stops it completely. That's why there isn't much to the landscape, even now it's fading. Look!"_

_As Hermione looked passed him she saw that the landscape was fading, darkness was overtaking it, there was almost nothing left._

_"Hermione!" He said again, drawing her attention to him. "Hermione I need to tell you something before it wears off completely!" As Hermione watched his image began flickering, disappearing then coming back. Andre must have realised and was trying to stop it!_

_"Hermione, I don't know what good it will do but what I need to say is that I . . . That I . . . That I" his form flickered, "You"_

_"What? I can't hear you! What did you say?" Hermione asked desperately, panic starting to sink into her, she could sense that somehow it was very important!"_

_"Hermione I" He began before he faded completely._

_"Nooooooo!" She screamed._

Hermione woke with a start on the cold dank floor with Andre standing over her smirking, with a look of triumph and knowing in his eyes. As if he knew something she didn't. She took one look at him and burst into tears and buried her head into her arms.

"Nooooo!" Draco yelled as he woke with a start on the cold concrete floor of the Great Hall. He had been so close to telling her. He even said but she didn't hear it! He was going to kill Andre! He felt Hermione wake up with a start. The connection between must be having a last burst of strength. But before it faded he heard a faint cry of despair and pain.

He jumped to his feet and began pacing to help him think. Lying down wasn't very good as he went straight to sleep. Where did he last see Andre? He wouldn't be able to take Hermione out of the castle. It was impossible, there was all sorts of spells to protect the students, and Andre wasn't that powerful. Where could he be?

Draco had already thought about him hiding her in a dream but, it was too much like that muggle movie he had seen about a guy he killed kids in their dreams. Andre wouldn't base his grand master plan on a muggle film. Where could he be?

Suddenly Draco stopped in the middle of his pacing. No. Andre wouldn't be that stupid. Would he? Would he seriously think that Draco wouldn't be able to figure it out? Of course. It all made sense, it was where he, Draco, had first felt for Hermione, first got jealous over her. It was where Andre had first met Hermione! But, still, Andre wouldn't be that stupid. He was bound to have all sorts of spells waiting for him. Well it was worth a try.

Draco set off for the room of requirement, going to fight his enemy, going to declare his love and going to save his Damsel In Distress!

"Please will you stop crying? Please? Stop crying! You're giving me a headache!" Andre moaned, holding his hands over his ears to block out Hermione's wailing.

"No! I will not stop crying just because you want me to! Why should I do a thing you say? You're the one who's kidnapped me and is going to be the one to kill me! Why should I make life easy for you?" Hermione shouted at him in rage. All the hurt and fear that she was feeling she directed into making her last hours as difficult for Andre as possible. "I hate you! I hate you! Draco is going to kill you when he finds me, and I can't wait." She turned her back on him and faced the wall. Probably a very dangerous thing to do when the person you're turning your back on is a psychopathic killer!

"I really don't know what you see in him you know" Andre said, trying to engage her in some sort of conversation. Why was he doing that, Hermione thought.

"Hello I asked you a question! Answer me!" She shouted at her. HE strode over to her and turned her roughly around.

"Why? Why should I talk to you? Why should I tell you why I love him?" She yelled in his face. He still had a tight grip on her arms but she managed to hold one up and slap him hard around the face. He let go of her with fury in his eyes, he really did look murderous.

"Do that to all the guys you like do you? Didn't you do that to Draco in your third year!" He asked.

"No, he was pissing me off . . . how did you know?" She asked, why did he seem to know everything about her?

"Because when Draco came home that summer that was all he could talk about. It was Granger this and Granger that. It annoyed me. That's when I first began to think that he liked you." He explained. "And I want you to talk to me because I am going to be the last person you ever talk to, so you might as well make the best of it." He went and sat next to her. She eyed him warily and shifted away from him slightly. He really was unhinged.

"How do I die?" She whispered, afraid to know the answer but needing to know. She looked him straight in the eyes waiting to see what his reaction was, but he was emotionless, there was a wall behind his eyes.

"I'm going to stab you. With this knife." He twirled his fingers and a knife appeared out of thin air, it was a small dagger, it was made from silver and the handle was of a dragon with red rubies for eyes. She looked at the blade and was relieved to see that it was extremely sharp.

"Oh. How . . . how long do I have left?" She asked, kind of glad that he was answering her questions and kind of sickened by them.

"That depends on when your lover gets here" He answered smoothly as if he was talking about the weather. She gave him a look. "Oh, yes he'll be able to figure it out, it depends how long it takes him, I have a charm on the door which will give em a signal when someone is trying to get in" She followed where he was looking and saw in one of the dark corners of the room a door.

"Where are we then?" She asked again. "Are we still in Hogwarts?"

"Yes we're still in Hogwarts. I wouldn't have been able to get you out of here, so I had to get everyone else out instead. We're in the room of requirement."

"How did you get everyone to leave then?" She asked, curiosity briefly blocking out her fear.

"I learnt some stuff from the Dark Lord before he was killed. He taught me how to brain wash a whole crowd of awake people. So last night, I knew that you and Draco were asleep as you were both trying to stay awake and when I was sure you were both in a deep sleep so nothing could disturb you, I made a commotion. Just so that I was sure that everyone was awake. Then I cast my spell and made them all believe it was time to go home. So off they all went. IT will be a good surprise when they get home and the spell wears off!" He finished, looking arrogant, about how his plan had worked out.

"Why did you come and see me the other night?" She asked suddenly. "When I slammed the door in your face and told you to leave me alone and go."

"I had to see that you had truly changed and I knew that you would act that way if you had changed, and I was right!" He told her smugly.

"But how do you know so much about me?" She enquired.

"I had to learn everything about Draco's most precious thing so that meant knowing how you acted and . . ." He stopped talking as a booming sound met their ears. Andre smiled evilly. "Enough questions for now. IT sounds like Lover Boy has arrived!"

He jumped up and dragged her to her feet and spun her in front of him with the dagger pressed against her throat. From the angle at which it was pointing it pierced her skin on her throat slightly and she could see the handle clearly for the first time. It had an inscription on it: Draco Malfoy!

**VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ**

A/N: What will happen next? Who knows? I do! Hiya everyone! Please review once you have read. I am sorry but I have to end this exciting chapter with some bad news. I can not continue this story . . . until the 17 June! I am so sorry but I have very important exams coming up, and what with revision and course work I must have done I will not have time for this story! But after June 16 I will be all yours for like 3 months, so I will hopefully be able to finish this story! Luv Water Demon xXx


	28. The Prophesy Fulfilled

The prophesy fulfilled

Why did Andre have a knife that belonged to Draco? Hermione thought. She felt Andre shiver against her and realised that he was nervous about this. He dug the dagger into her neck slightly so blood was drawn. She whimpered.

"Just to add a little drama to the situation. Oh and the reason why it says Draco Malfoy on the knife is that it was his and just to make him hurt a little more that he knows it was something that belonged to him that killed you" Andre explained.

Hermione realised he really was crazy with hatred of Draco and revenge. He had spent months stalking them both, finding out everything to try and hurt Draco as much as possible.

Hermione's thoughts were cut short as the door in the corner creaked slowly open allowing some light in the outside world in, but it was cut short as a figure appeared in the doorway. No features were distinguishable but as the figure stepped into the room the door swung shut with bang. Everything was thrown into darkness. It was then that Hermione heard her name being called out.

"Hermione!"

Draco was right outside the door. He would do exactly the same thing as he did when he found Hermione in the room of requirement for the first time. _I need to find Hermione, I need to find Hermione, I need to find Hermione . . . _A door appeared in front of him. He couldn't believe how easy it was. Surely Andre had something else up his sleeve.

He took a deep breath and touched the handle of the door, it swung open at his touch showing nothing but a dark void in front of him. He had to do this for Hermione. He stepped into the door way blocking off the light, still not able to see anything in front of him only the wall to his left which only showed some old fashioned sconces. He stepped into the room as the door shut with a bang behind him. He could see some shapes by the wall opposite him.

"Hermione!"

"Draco!" Came the reply.

"Where are you Andre? Let her go!" Draco yelled.

"No need to shout! I'm right here!" Andre said calmly as he waved his wand and the room was suddenly illuminated. Andre quickly put his hand over Hermione's arms pinning them to her waist. She was completely at his mercy.

"Hermione!" Draco said. He looked at her with pain in his eyes, they travelled to Andre's hand on her and the knife at her throat. Particularly to the blood slowly dripping down her neck. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Andre's hand forced the blade closer to her throat. If she spoke she could risk the blade cutting her neck. So she just nodded slightly.

"Sorry she can't talk" Andre said sweetly "Its just she has a blade against her throat and if she speaks she'll be responsible for her own death"

"Get away from her now" Draco commanded each word spoken with hatred.

"Erm . . . no! I'm glad you're here for the end of it all. Its such a shame that there's no other way that this could end! She will die by the end of this night! Look there's the full moon!" Andre pointed to a window by the ceiling as white moonlight bathed the room.

"It can end differently" Draco replied. "Let her go and kill me, take me in her place!" He was slowly edging towards them and he was directly in front of them. Hermione was looking at him with wide frightened eyes, unable to move, but when he spoke love filled her eyes, he could tell that she had forgiven him.

"Take me in her place!" He said again.

Andre threw back his head and laughed. "That isn't the point. How are you supposed to suffer if you're the one dead! Nope this is ending one way. With her death" He spat. He pushed the blade at Hermione's throat making her whimper in pain.

Draco was barley listening. He was watching Hermione. She seemed to be trying to tell him something, but he didn't understand. Her eyes were looking deep into his they were full of love, he looked at her the same way and all of a sudden he knew what to do. That's why Andre tried to split up the dream. In case he told her those three vital words that would end the prophesy. It made sense. Why didn't he see it before?

"I knew it wouldn't work anyway" Draco said to Andre. Andre was given Draco a suspicious look. "But it will finish differently." Draco looked at Hermione. "I should have said it before I-"

"Silencio!" Andre screamed. Draco was stopped in mid sentence. "How did you figure it out?" Andre had thrown Hermione aside where she screamed as she landed painfully on the floor. He was advancing on Draco who was stunned at the sudden silence. He hoped Hermione would get what he was trying to do if he threw his wand towards her. Andre was right in front of him. Hatred and anger in his eyes. "How did you figure it out?" Andre then regained his cool. "No matter, I'll kill you then but remember as you lie dying, she will join you!" Draco threw his wand.

Hermione caught it and yelled the counter curse. Draco heard pain in her voice just as he got his voice back. Just as Hermione threw the wand Andre pointed his wand at her and screamed the cruciatus curse. Hermione screamed in pain as Draco's wand went flying trough the air. He jumped and caught it but Andre was already on his guard facing Draco. Hermione still lay on the floor screaming in agony.

"Ready for a fight to the death Draco?" Andre asked as they circled each other ready for combat.

"Yeah, your death not mine" Draco replied, trying to get to Hermione. Andre knew what Draco was up to though and kept himself by Hermione's pain ridden form. Draco wondered how he knew then he remembered that Andre could read minds.

At that moment Draco lunged. Andre was ready. They were both sending curses at each other, sometimes the spell hit sometimes it didn't. All the curses sent were designed to inflict pain, just like a real fight without wands. In no time at all both guys were bleeding. Draco had a huge gash down one arm, his lip was bleeding and his eye was starting to swell. Andre however was better the Draco at duels so he only had minor cuts and bruises. Draco knew in that moment that he was going to lose. But not before he took Andre with him. With a frightful calm Draco let go of his wand. In the moment it took Andre to get over the surprise Draco had dived for him.

The action caught Andre off guard and he toppled with Draco on top. Both wands were lying on the floor. Draco quickly punched every bit of Andre he could find. But he had forgotten about Andre's power, and as Draco started to become weak from keeping the punching up Andre took his chance.

He snarled. Draco looked at Andre surprised at the sound. He looked into Andre's eyes and with horror saw what Andre was doing. He was changing. He was becoming a white tiger, the type with ice cold blue eyes. Draco jumped off him and grabbed his wand again and leapt for Hermione, who had finally stopped screaming.

Draco looked at her and saw she was weak, during the curse she had started bleeding from somewhere on her body. She was lying in a pool of her own blood, her eyes half closed, her breathing faint. With a stab of fear Draco knew she wasn't going to make it. Then he saw where the blood was coming from, it wasn't to do with the curse. Draco's silver dragon knife was sticking out of her side, just below her ribs.

"No!" Draco said. He knew he had a little bit of time before Andre to changed completely. "Hermione" He whispered. He gently picked up her head cradling it. He smoothed her hair away from her pale face. She stirred slightly as her breath hitched.

"Draco." She murmured "Draco I forgive you for hurting me. I know you were trying to save me . . . I thank you . . . and I forgive you" She whispered.

"Hermione don't speak like that you can tell me once we get out of here!" Draco whispered anxiously. Before Hermione could reply Draco was thrown backwards.

He hit the wall with a sickening crunch and knew that he had broken something. A dark shape sprang at him but Draco dodged quickly. The white tiger hit the wall with a thud and Draco knew that Andre's anger was so great that he couldn't think straight. He was letting animal instincts take control.

Draco knew how he could beat him. He had seen it quickly when he was walking into the room. It was on the wall. Now where was the door. Draco thought. There it was. Now it was on the left hand side quite high. There! Draco had seen it. Now to get Andre over there before he noticed anything.

"Bet you're angry now aren't you?" Draco said to Andre. "things haven't gone your way, this isn't the revenge you've planned. I bet you really want to hurt me because I spoilt it for you" Draco was edging closer to the wall. He was in front of it. "Well here's your chance." Draco hoped he had enough energy to dodge the pounce.

Sure enough Andre was mad. He was hissing and spitting with rage, and he did exactly what Draco thought he would. He jumped. High. Aiming for Draco's head. Aiming for the move that would kill Draco. It was a good jump and Draco only just got away but he felt claws tear at his shoulder at the last second, and then a thud. Silence. Then a high pitched yowl turning into human screaming. Draco's plan had worked. Andre had landed on one of the sharp sconces that lined the walls. Draco turned around and saw that Andre was back in his human form. He was lying on the floor where he had fallen. A big bloody hole in his stomach. He was laughing manically and looking at Draco with hatred in his gaze.

Draco knelt by him, knowing he was dying. "How did you get like this Andre?" Draco asked "How did you come to hate me so much that you let it take control of you?" Even though Andre had made Draco's life hell he still felt sorry for him.

"You should have stuck by me. You shouldn't have left. You were supposed look out for me" Andre looked like he was losing consciousness, then a sudden gleam lit his eye and he looked at Draco. "At least I got my revenge even if I'm not able to enjoy it!" He laughed manically again and the laugh turned into a gurgle as blood trickled out of Andre's mouth. He stopped moving. He lay there with an insane smile lighting his face and his open eyes staring into the distance. It took a while for Draco to register what Andre had said.

"Hermione!" Draco ran towards her. She hadn't moved. There was so much blood. She didn't look alive. He looked at her blood soaked figure and thought: What have I done?

He bent over her feeling for a pulse. He found it but it was very weak. It was then that he realised she was looking straight at him with sad, tear drenched eyes.

A/N: There you go a chapter as promised! Thank God the exams are over! As soon as they were over I went straight on my computer to start this chapter and now I am finally done! Did any of you miss me? Anyway I'm sorry that the previous chapter was confusing 'cos all the breaks: disappeared. Sorry! And I'm sorry if it happens on this one too! Next one should be up soon and its gonna be the last chappie!  Please review this chppie cos review make me happy and make me want o write! Lol!

Luv Water Demon xXx


	29. The End

The End

"Hermione?" Draco whispered. Scooping her into his embrace. He was kneeling on the floor, Hermione lying across his lap, her head cradled in the crook of his arm. Draco gently smoothed loose strands of hair away from her face, it was almost a caress. His eyes were filling with tears as he looked at the damage he had done to the only one he had every truly loved.

Hermione was still looking at him with her tear drenched eyes in a way that Draco knew that meant she didn't blame him at all. Precious minutes were ticking away and they remained looking at each other spell bound. It wasn't until Hermione gave a feeble cough and a shaky breath that Draco remembered what was happening.

"Hermione" He whispered again tears falling from his eyes. "Hermione, please, please don't leave me. You can hold on your strong. I'll take you to the hospital wing where they can heal you. Just please . . . please don't leave me" He started sobbing.

"No, Draco. It's too late, I can't survive this. The cruciatus curse coupled with the knife is too much." Hermione started to cry. Draco wiped her tears away gently with his thumb. "Just carry on being like you were with me, don't turn yourself to ice . . . .please" Hermione begged.

"I – I – I promise" Draco cried. "Its unfair I didn't have enough time with you, It's not fair, I should have had more time with you, if only I hadn't been so stupid and fallen for Andre's plan . . . then the prophesy would . . . never . . . have . . . happ-" Draco stopped, he just remembered.

"I love you" Draco murmured, saying it to his knees. He listened to himself saying it. He said it!

"I love you!" Draco said again looking at Hermione, she looked at him with love in her eyes and was smiling weakly.

"I love you Hermione! I should have told you so many times before, I shouldn't have been selfish in thinking what was right. I should have told you straight away!" He said, then in a whisper he added. "I love you, stay with me."

"I . . ." Hermione was having trouble speaking. "I–lo-love you-too" She whispered back.

"You're going to be fine now!" Draco told her. "I saved you from the prophesy! I returned your love. Your going to make it!" He hugged her with joy. Then he felt her shaking against him and realised she was crying again.

"No. It doesn't work that way. I don't just suddenly get healed again." She sobbed. "Its if you do it _before_ the moon rises. I'm just glad you . . ." Hermione coughed as blood came out of her mouth.

"I'm dying. I don't blame you . . . I . . . just . . . need . . . to . . . rest . . ." Hermione ended as she closed her eyes and let out a big breath. Her last breath, with it Draco could hear her saying faintly "I love you."

"Hermione!" Draco shook her. "Hermione?" He shook her again. She didn't react. She just lay there head lolling back and her hands like wilted flowers by her sides. Draco broke down into tears again, sobs filling his every word. "No come back. I can't do this without you. I need you! I love you! Please don't go!" Then he threw back his head and screamed into the dark. "I said I loved her! That's how it works! She should be back here and healed! Healed! Alive!" He looked back on her still form and touched her forehead with his. "I'm so sorry" He whispered his anguish becoming to great to bear. He drew her closer to towards her keeping her in his embrace as he rocked back and forth, tears streaming down his face like a water fall.

Every moment that passed felt like an eternity to Draco every moment added to his pain as he thought about her. About how good she was, how . . . innocent.

Every . . .

Second . . .

Felt . . .

Like . . .

An . . .

Eternity . . .

Wait! He thought. _I_ can heal her. I learnt that spell ages ago from the book in our common room! I knew there was a reason why I read that book! Draco began to have a little hope as he tried to remember the right words to murmur. The spell could heal anyone who were on the verge of death. Hermione was past the verge of death but he hoped it would work.

It would take all his strength to do it. He just hoped he would have enough left. He pointed his wand at her knife wound and placed the other on the hilt of the knife. Then muttering the spell he pulled it out.

It came out easily. No blood came out with it. The knife was bloody but there was no bleeding. The dead didn't bleed. He dropped his head to rest against hers again. He had failed . . . again. He had lost her again. He didn't even know how it was noticeable if the spell worked. He didn't care because he had failed.

Or . . . not . . . a bright golden light was encircling their bodies. Blowing the hair away from their faces and getting brighter and brighter until Draco had to close his eyes and he had after images against his closed eyelids. He kept a firm hold on Hermione until it had finished.

He looked at her in hope but it was gone straight away as he saw she still wasn't breathing. She looked so peaceful . . . so innocent . . . so beautiful . . . and it was breaking Draco's heart just looking at her. He turned away his pain becoming to big again, a single tear dripped onto her face . . . and he felt something brush his arm . . .

He looked down and his breath hitched. Hermione was looking at him. Her eyes were no longer tear drenched but full of life and love for Draco.

"Hermione!" He whispered, hardly daring to believe it. She smiled at him and he laughed and drew her into a hug and gave her a soft kiss full of the love they felt for one another.

"I thought I'd lost you" He whispered looking scared.

"I couldn't leave you" She whispered back smiling again. "Plus I don't want someone to take over as Head Girl" She added.

Draco just laughed and held her close. "Still being humorous, even when you've died. How did this happen though?" He asked. "Not that I'm complaining but you should be dead" He looked at her blankly.

"Well . . . it seems you were right about me getting healed. I was in this place where . . . I don't know . . . just floating around and I heard you and what you tried to do. I felt your grief, your anguish, all your pain . . . and I knew I had to go back. So I sort of willed myself back to my body and then this golden light encircled me and I closed my eyes and woke up in my own body. I think that's the test, to see if what we feel is real . . . and I guess it was meant to be!"

Draco just smiled at her. "It sure is" He looked around as if he only just realised where they were. "Don't look. Andre's dead." He said flatly. He helped her to her feet and making sure he was blocking her from seeing Andre's dead body, they walked out of the room together. Arms around each other, sharing the pain they went through, giving each other support. Draco flicked his wand and the door shut behind them, keeping in the shadows and the pain and Andre's still form staring into the darkness.

Hermione and Draco were debating what they wanted to do first, whether to go and snuggle together, or go eat, or sleep. But in the end they agreed to get Dumbledore because they had an eternity to be together . . . right?

The End

A/N: Taa-daa! All done! That was my final chapter. You know for a minute there I thought I was going to let her die but I just couldn't do it . . . and I would have upset all my reviewers! Lol! Hope you enjoyed this story! Please read and review! Ta!

Luv Water Demon xXx


	30. Last note

Hi everyone!

Just a last note to say that I will be starting another story soon! It is not related to 'To Bewitch The Mind' though! It is a totally new story line. Between Hermione and Draco of course! I should get the first story up and running before the end of the month! Just thought you'd like to know!

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story!

Luv Water Demon


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